Desktop Analyses

 A sans-wader approach to assess watersheds from the comfort of your office.  Here you will find a variety of mapping and modeling tools for analyzing current and future watershed conditions, including techniques for estimating impervious cover, inventorying wetlands, and predicting pollutant loads. 

Audits

Watershed Protection Program Audit (8 Tools Assessment)
Authors: Center for Watershed Protection Released: 2001

This tool provides an example audit designed to identify regulatory and programmatic tools and gaps in your watershed protection planning strategy and is organized by the Center for Watershed Protection’s Eight Tools of Watershed Protection. These tools roughly correspond to the stages of the development cycle from initial land use planning, site design, and construction.

The Codes and Ordinances Worksheet
Authors: Center for Watershed Protection Released: 1998

The Codes & Ordinances Worksheet, or COW, is a simple worksheet that you can use to see how the local development rules in your community stack up against the model development principles outlined in Better Site Design. This PDF will allow you to enter data in the fields and save.

Needs and Capabilities Assessment (NCA)
Authors: T. Schueler, A. Kitchell Released: 2005

This tool helps communities to quickly organize known programs and resources that can be potentially applied to watershed protection and restoration, as well as identify potential resources that may not have been considered.

Smart Watershed Benchmarking Tool
Authors: P. Rowe, T. Schueler Released: 2006
Cost: $30 Add to Cart
Download for Free

Using lessons learned from around the country, this self-assessment tool helps local program managers make better decisions on watershed restoration priorities to maximize the performance of staff and financial resources. Local watershed groups can also use this tool by determining how their community compares to others and work with their local governments to encourage adoption of practices that would strengthen watershed resotration efforts. It includes an overview of smart watershed programs, its benefits and applications for local communities; step-by-step guidance on how to complete the tool and interpret community scores; case studies and tips for implementing the programs; and further details on restoration budgeting. Hard copy is a spiral-bound guidebook with CD of a PDF form that you can fill out electronically and save.

Comparative Subwatershed Analysis (CSA)
Authors: T. Schueler, A. Kitchell Released: 2005

This tool contains information on the Comparative Subwatershed Analysis that helps screen subwatersheds within a community to find the ones with the greatest restoration potential. A brief description of the subwatershed “metrics” used to provide a general indication of restoration potential is also included. The information provided within this tool is an excerpt from Schueler and Kitchell, 2005.

Models

The Watershed Treatment Model (Version 3.1)
Authors: D. Caraco  Released: 2002
Download for Free: Complete Documentation Simple User's Guide Watershed Treatment Model Spreadsheet

This publication documents the Watershed Treatment Model (WTM), a simple spreadsheet that tracks pollutant sources and the effectiveness of various watershed treatment options in urban and urbanizing watersheds. The WTM can be used to develop TMDLs for nutrients or sediment; direct bacteria detective work in urbanized watersheds; determine the effectiveness of watershed education programs; and target the future program in a Phase II community.

Watershed Vulnerability Analysis
Authors: J. Zielinski  Released: 2002

The Watershed Vulnerability Analysis provides guidance on delineating subwatersheds, estimating current and future impervious cover, and identifying factors that would alter the initial classification of individual subwatersheds. This technical release outlines a basic eight-step process for creating a watershed plan for either a large watershed or jurisdiction.

Land Use/ Impervious Cover Relationships in the Chesapeake Bay
Authors: K. Cappiella, K. Brown  Released: 2001

This report summarizes a Center study that analyzed 12 suburban land uses in four Chesapeake Bay watershed communities. The study derived impervious cover-land use coefficients that can be used along with land use data to estimate current and future impervious cover in your own watershed. Included in the report is a method of using these numbers to estimate impervious cover, a detailed study methodology, a review of other methodologies, and an analysis of research documenting the relationship between impervious cover and stream quality.

Simplified Urban Nutrient Output Model (SUNOM)
Authors: T. Schueler  Released: 1995
Documentation Spreadsheet

The Simplified Urban Nutrient Output Model (SUNOM) is a simple spreadsheet model that calculates the annual water balance, annual nitrogen and phosphorous export, and infrastructure costs for individual development sites.

The Practice of Watershed Protection Articles

Below are articles from The Practice of Watershed Protection that pertain specifically to this topic. To purchase the hardbound book or CD of these articles, please visit our store. For citing these articles, add the article author and title to the following: The Practice of Watershed Protection. 2000. T. Schueler and H. Holland, eds. Center for Watershed Protection. Ellicott City, MD. Authors of each individual article are listed as initials at the end of the article, with full names as follows: Carol Anne Barth (CAB), Ken Brown (KBB), Ted Brown (EWB), Whitney Brown (WEB), Deborah Caraco (DSC), Richard Claytor (RAC), Hye Yeong Kwon (HYK), Jennifer McClean (JMC), Ron Ohrel (RLO), Janet Pelley (JP), Eric Reeves (ER), Chris Swann (CS) and Jennifer Zielinski (JAZ). To view comprehensive list of all downloadable articles from this book, visit the Practice of Watershed Protection Articles page.

13. Simple and Complex Stormwater Pollutant Load Models Compared
Authors: Center for Watershed Protection Released: 2000

Links

Development Capacity Analysis

This document, produced by the Maryland Department of Planning, provides a methodology for estimating the total amount of development that may be built in an area under a certain set of assumptions,
including applicable land use laws and policies(e.g., zoning), environmental constraints, etc.

Protecting Water Resources with Higher-Density Development

A recent EPA report examines the impacts of high- and low-density development on water resources by modeling three scenarios of different densities at three scales—one-acre level, lot level, and watershed level—and at three different time series build-out examples. It then examined storm water runoff from different development densities to determine the comparative difference between scenarios.

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