Watershed Management

Introduction

Watershed Map

Watershed Management EPA research is being conducted to quantify watershed management effects on water quality and ecosystem services. The results can be applied to management actions and their placement in order to achieve gains in water quality.

Projects Compartmental Analysis of Nutrient Processing in Streams (PDF) (2 pp, 143 KB) The Influence of Road Salts on Water Quality in a Restored Urban Stream (PDF) (2 pp, 118 KB) Using a Basin Scale Flow Model to Identify and Map Ground Water Dependency of Ecosystem Services on the Calapooia Watershed, Oregon (PDF) (1 pp, 129 KB)

Watersheds move solutes, sediment, and microorganisms to receiving water bodies according to several variables. These variables are the direct result of management actions, and watersheds serve as the integrated result of multiple processes.

EPA research is being conducted to quantify watershed management effects on water quality and ecosystem services. The results can be applied to management actions and their placement in order to affect gains in water quality, or to allow decision makers to predict and evaluate how specific actions may improve or alter water quality and ecosystem services in their watersheds.

Some of EPA’s research is focused on watershed management for water quality improvements in a regulatory context. Increasingly, the research is seeking to develop products that lead to decision support guidance for evaluation of the tradeoffs among management alternatives in the more general context of ecosystem services.

Products

Watershed Central (web resource) – includes guidance, tools, case studies, and data sets to assist users in the development and implementation of effective watershed management programs.

Cooper C.A., P.M. Mayer, and B.R. Faulkner. (2008). “The Influence of Road Salts on Water Quality in a Restored Urban Stream.” In: Proceedings 16th National Nonpoint Source Monitoring Workshop, Columbus, Ohio, September 14–18.

Faulkner, B.R. (2008). “Bayesian Modeling of the Assimilative Capacity Component of Nutrient Total Maximum Daily Loads.” Water Resources Research, 44: W08415. DOI:10.1029/2007WR006638

Keeley, A. and B.R. Faulkner. (2008). “Influence of Land Use and Watershed Characteristics on Protozoa Contamination in a Potential Drinking Water Resources Reservoir.” Water Research, 42, 10-11: 2803–2813. DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2008.02.028

Faulkner B.R., and M.E. Campana. (2007). “Compartmental Model of Nitrate Retention in Streams.” Water Resources Research, 43: W02406. DOI: 10.1029/2006WR004920

Olivas, Y. and B.R. Faulkner. (2007). “Fecal Source Tracking by Antibiotic ResistanceAnalysis on a Watershed Exhibiting Low Resistance.” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 139: 15–25. DOI: 10.1007/s10661-007-9805-0

Clark, J.E., E.C. Hellgren, E.E. Jorgensen, S.M. Tunnell, D.M. Engel, and D.M. Leslie, Jr. (2003). “Population Dynamics of Hispid Cotton Rats (Sigmodon hispidus) Across a Nitrogen Amended Landscape.” Canadian Journal of Zoology, 81: 994–1003.

Jorgensen, E.E., S. Holub, G. Silva, P.M. Mayer, A.E. West, M.E. Gonsoulin, S.J. Tunnell, J.E. Clark, J.L. Parsons, D.M. Engle, and E.C. Hellgren. (2003). “Sources and Estimated Load of Bioavailable Nitrogen Attributable to Chronic Nitrogen Exposure and Changed Ecosystem Structure and Function.” In: Proceedings First Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, Benson, Arizona, October 27–30, pp 614–618.

Advances in Restoration Science, Number 2: Opportunities in Nitrogen Management Research: Improving Applications for Proven Technologies and Identifying New Tools for Managing Nitrogen Flux and Input in Ecosystems – Issue Paper (6 pp, 128 KB) (EPA/600/S-02/003) June 2002

Contact

Bart Faulkner
Hydrologist
580-436-8530

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