Development and application of a Watershed Information System (WIS) for water quality analyses

This paper describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a watershed information system (WIS) to assist in the planning of programmes for water quality control in river basins incorporating both point and nonpoint pollutant sources. The system simulates rainfall-runoff processes and the transport of water quality constituents and sediment. WIS includes two nonpoint source models, a network design component, a flow and sediment routing component and a water quality component. Simple models of rainfall-runoff and water quality were selected for WIS. The models in the system are integrated through their inputs and outputs. Friendly Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) facilitate the interaction with user-models. WIS was applied in a watershed in Delaware County, New York. The results showed that the system is a suitable computational tool to identify source areas of pollution in river basins and indicate where more complex modelling and analysis might be recommended.