Thursday, April 16, 2009

Academy Previews New Watershed Assessment Tool

The Academy of Natural Sciences this week previewed a new watershed restoration assessment tool called SWIM - Streamlined Watershed Integrated Model during a hearing by the House Republican Policy Committee.
Dr. Jerry Mead described the SWIM tool as a GIS-based system that evaluates the current state of a watershed and simulates the results of changes made to the watershed during restoration, for example adding forested riparian buffers and using other best management practices to specific areas in a watershed. SWIM analyzes the changes and estimates the water quality changes specific restoration techniques would make in the stream using eight different environmental indicators. (click here for a copy of the testimony.)

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