BASINS 2.0and

The Trinity River Basin

By Jóna Finndís Jónsdóttir

Why this project?

Area of study

What is BASINS 2.0

Running NPSM

Conclusions

Outline

Lets talk about TMDL

My research project is a part of a Total Maximum Daily Loads project on the Trinity River Basin in east Texas

BASINS 2.0 is sometimes used to view andprocess data regarding TMDL projects

Since the product of my research project will be used in asimilar way as the data in BASINS, a quick inspection of theprogram will give me a better overview over my research

And the study area is…

Or actually a part of the Trinity River Basin…First I was looking at the West Fork Trinity River Above Bridgeport Reservoir, segment number 812

My next choice was Clear Fork Trinity River Above Lake Weatherford, segment number 833

The river network was to complicated for the non-point source model

Better Assessment Science IntegratingPoint and Nonpoint Sources

The BASINS system is basically an Arc View project with some extra components.It consists of

An environmental database Tools for data queries and report generation Ability to produce input files for three models The models, NPSM, Qual2e and Toxiroute Post-processors for viewing of outputs from the models

The DatabaseBase Cartographic Data Hydrologic Unit BoundariesMajor RoadsPopulated Place LocationsUrbanized AreasState and County BoundariesEPA Regions

Environmental Background DataEcoregionsState soil and Geographic DatabaseReach file 1Reach file 3Digital Elevation ModelLand Use and Land Cover

Environmental Monitoring Data Water Quality Monitoring Stations and Data summariesBacteria Monitoring Stations and Sata SummariesWater Quality Stations and Observation DataNational Sediment Inventory Stations and DatabaseListing of Fish and Wildlife AdvisoriesFlow Gage SitesWeather Station SitesDrinking Water Supply SitesWatershed Data Stations and DatabaseClassified Shellfish Areas

Point Source/Loading Data Permit Compliance System, Sites & Computed Annual LoadingsIndustrial Facilities Discharge Sites & Pollutant Release dataSuperfund National Priority List SiteResource Conservation & Recovery Information System SitesMinerals Availability System /Mineral Industry Location System

Data Queries and Report Generation

Target performs a broad-based assessment on the entire project areaAssess is used to assess data on an individual watershed or a limited set of watersheds

Data mining generates dynamic links between tables and maps for individual water quality stations or permitted facility discharges

The Stream Water Quality Models

Two simple one-dimensional, steady-state models are are within BASINS, QUAL2E and TOXIROUTEBASINS creates input files for these models and has an built-in visualization for their output files.

QUAL2E uses complex algorithms to simulate biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, temperature, conservative and non-conservative substances

Does not run in Windows NTDoes not run in Windows NT

TOXIROUTE calculates final and average concentration of general water quality constituents based on a dilution and first-order decay algorithm

Will not be included in next edition of BASINSWill not be included in next edition of BASINS

Nonpoint Source ModelNPSM

NPSM is capable of integrating both: Nonpoint source runoff and associated pollutant loadings Point source discharges

BASINS can create an input file for the model, which describes the attributes of a selected watershed

The input file describes:The river reach network: length, slope and flow/water level curves (from Rf1)The land use of watershedsPoint source discharges

A separate data file includes weather data from certain weather stations

In the NPSM-postprocessor, measured data can be compared to the output from the model

Running NPSM

Running NPSM (continued)

Output from NPSMUSGS Flow Gage Station

&Surface Water Quality Station

Conclusions

The BASINS system is in most ways interesting and easy to use

Except for the models

The fact that QUAL2E is not compatible with Windows NT should be presented in a more obvious way than it is (one sentence in the users guide)

NPSM should give the user some error messages or instructions when the model can not run due to some mistakes in the input

Questions?