watershed assessment Articles
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Monitoring Tools for Watershed Assessments
Weston Solutions, Inc. (WESTON®) has designed and implemented a watershed-based monitoring program with the San Diego County Copermittees. The monitoring program includes three elements: Mass Loading Station (MLS) Monitoring, Stream Bioassessment Monitoring, and Ambient Bay and Lagoon Monitoring. The core program includes the collection and analysis of stormwater runoff during three storm ...
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Assessment of heavy metal and PAH exposure in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) in the Reedy River watershed, South Carolina, USA: A multi‐season assessment of metallothionein and bile fluorescence
Biomarkers can be used as tools to help determine ecological exposure in watershed assessments. In the present study, metallothionein and fixed wavelength bile fluorescence for two‐, four‐, and five‐ring hydrocarbons were used as biomarkers of exposure in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) in the Reedy River watershed located in South Carolina, USA. Fish were sampled from three ...
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The challenge of documenting water quality benefits of conservation practices: a review of USDA-ARS's conservation effects assessment project watershed studies
The Conservation Effects Assessment Project was established to quantify water quality benefits of conservation practices supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 2004, watershed assessment studies were begun in fourteen agricultural watersheds with varying cropping systems, landscapes, climate, and water quality concerns. This paper reviews USDA Agricultural Research Service ...
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Watershed characterization and planning to help District meet consent decree case study
Sanitation District No. 1 of Northern Kentucky has signed the nation’s first wet weather consent decree based on the principles of adaptive watershed management. LimnoTech is working with the District, its gray and green infrastructure consultants, and stakeholders to develop watershed plans that meet requirements of the consent decree for sewer overflows. Problem The District must develop ...
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Performance-based incentives for agricultural pollution control: identifying and assessing performance measures in the United States
Current federal and state soil and water conservation programs consist primarily of cost-sharing or compensating farmers for implementing a set of pre-defined best management practices. This approach does not consider specific environmental outcomes or the cost-effectiveness of the program at the farm or watershed level. Performance-based incentives are payments that are attached to a specified ...
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A Framework for Assessing Cumulative Effects in Watersheds: An Introduction to Canadian Case Studies
From 2008 to 2013, a series of studies supported by the Canadian Water Network were conducted in Canadian watersheds in an effort to improve methods to assess cumulative effects. These studies fit under a common framework for watershed cumulative effects assessment (CEA). This paper presents an introduction to the Special Series on Watershed CEA in Integrated Environmental Assessment and ...
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Scale, assessment components and reference conditions: Issues for cumulative effects assessment in Canadian watersheds
Recent years have witnessed an increase in the use of watershed‐based cumulative effects assessment (WCEA) in Canada; however, several challenges remain regarding its effective implementation and execution. Fundamental to WCEA is the establishment of linkages between environmental stressors and particular and measurable components of the aquatic environment. There are dynamic and often ...
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Development of an effects‐based approach for watershed scale aquatic cumulative effects assessment
Environmental impacts can manifest themselves in a cumulative manner over very large spatial (watershed) and temporal (decadal) scales. In response to these challenges, scientists have been developing methods which attempt to assess the complex interactions between our environment and the current and future demands of society. This paper proposes a framework for quantifying cumulative changes ...
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Flow and high sediment yield from the Huangfuchuan watershed
This study deals with general features of sediment transport in the Huangfuchuan river, an important branch river of the Yellow river, draining the Loess Plateau in China. The long-term precipitation records at 3 climate stations near the watershed have been used to assess the changes in precipitation in this region. By introducing metrics for runoff and sediment transport, long-term observations ...
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A watershed-scale assessment of cost-effectiveness of sediment abatement with flow diversion terraces
Received for publication May 1, 2009. Soil conservation beneficial management practices (BMPs) are effective at controlling soil loss from farmlands and minimizing water pollution in agricultural watersheds. However, costs associated with implementing and maintaining these practices are high and often deter farmers from using them. Consequently, it is necessary to conduct cost-benefit analysis of ...
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Misalignment of watershed and jurisdictional boundaries: the importance of scale
The misalignment of the boundaries of watersheds and jurisdictions is cited often as a barrier to effective water governance, but the validity of the assertion depends on watershed scale and the decisions or processes involved. The paper probes these decision processes and their alignment with scales of natural watersheds and with governance processes. Two examples from the USA provide ...
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Accumulated state assessment of the Peace‐Athabasca‐Slave River System
Effects‐based analysis is a fundamental component of watershed cumulative effects assessment. This study conducted an effects‐based analysis for the Peace‐Athabasca‐Slave River System, part of the massive Mackenzie River Basin, encompassing 20% of Canada's total land mass and influenced by cumulative contributions of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam (Peace River) and industrial activities including oil ...
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Regional risk assessment of the Puyallup River Watershed and the evaluation of low impact development in meeting management goals
The Relative Risk Model (RRM) is a tool used to calculate and assess the likelihood of effects to endpoints when multiple stressors occur in complex ecological systems. In this study, a Bayesian network was used to calculate relative risk and estimate uncertainty (BN‐RRM) in the Puyallup River Watershed. First, we calculated the risk of prespawn mortality of coho salmon. Second, we evaluated ...
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A method for estimating watershed restoration feasibility under different treatment levels
The restoration of watershed health can be influenced by ecological, technical and socio-economic factors. The paper presents a conceptual framework and typology to assess watershed ecological restoration based on the properties and processes of sustainable watershed development. According to multiple life stages, habitat properties and existing legal frameworks and applicable valuation ...
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Development of priority setting process for the small stream restoration projects using multi criteria decision analysis
This study performed a flood risk assessment using one of the multi criteria decision-making methods to identify the small stream basins with high risk of flooding and to determine the optimal small stream restoration measures by priority ranking for flood risk. The 12 representative factors for the flood risk assessment were carefully selected and constructed for the three main aspects, such ...
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Accumulated state of the Yukon River watershed: Part I critical review of literature
A consistent methodology for assessing the accumulating effects of natural and man‐made change on riverine systems has not been developed for a whole host of reasons including a lack of data, disagreement over core elements to consider, and complexity. Accumulated State Assessments of aquatic systems is an integral component of watershed cumulative effects assessment. The Yukon River is the ...
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Development of a water quality assessment model: a water quality assessment model based on watershed characteristics by non-linear regression
Here, a water quality assessment model (WQAM) is developed by non-linear regression as an alternative to physical watershed modeling in South Korea. Three cases and 10 scenarios are applied and reviewed to determine the most appropriate WQAM. The three cases are: (1) the area size allocation of sub-watersheds, (2) the watershed imperviousness ratio, and (3) the combination of the area size and ...
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Evaluating nonpoint source critical source area contributions at the watershed scale
Areas with disproportionately high pollutant losses (i.e., critical source areas [CSAs]) have been widely recognized as priority areas for the control of nonpoint-source pollution. The identification and evaluation of CSAs at the watershed scale allows state and federal programs to implement soil and water conservation measures where they are needed most. Despite many potential advantages, many ...
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Modeling the impacts of climate change and future land use variation on microbial transport
The impact of waterborne micro-organisms (potentially pathogenic) on public health may be exacerbated by the combined effects of climate and land use change. We used watershed modeling to assess the potential effects of climate change and future land management scenarios on microbial water quality in the Pigg River watershed, located in southwest Virginia, USA. The hydrologic simulation ...
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