Estimating Non-Point Pollutant Loadings—I: A Geographical-Information-Based Non-Point Source Simulation Model

A. K. Dikshit
Daniel P. Loucks


DOI: 10.2190/M0UV-PW4D-FATU-9PXD

Abstract

This article is the first part in a two-article series. A geographical-information-based model, the Cornell Non-Point Source simulation model (CNPS), has been developed to help planners identify, analyze, and simulate the impacts of alternative land-use management policies and practices on non-point source pollutant loadings. It simulates hydrologic, erosion, and non-point source processes using spatial data from Geographic Information Systems. the model can be used 1) to simulate the erosion and runoff, sediment and the pollutant loadings at the watershed outlet, 2) to provide non-point water quality constituent loadings from a watershed to stream water quality model for comprehensive instream modeling, 3) to analyze the runoff quantity and quality for different land-use management alternatives, and 4) to study the relative changes in water quality of receiving water bodies associated with changes in land-uses. Part II of this series describes an application of the model to the Fall Creek watershed in New York, U. S. A.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.