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MODELING CONSTRUCTION SITE IMPACTS ON WATERSHEDS

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Pp. 375-383 in Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Environmental Regulations–II Proceedings of the 8-12 November 2003 Conference (Albuquerque, New Mexico USA), Publication Date 8 November 2003.  .(doi:10.13031/2013.15584)
Authors:   A.D. Moore, R. A. McLaughlin, and H. Mitasova
Keywords:   Sediment, erosion, watershed, modeling, WEPP, GeoWEPP, calibration, validation

Sediment and erosion controls have been required on construction sites for many years, but they are often not very effective in reducing sediment movement to streams, lakes, and estuaries. One approach to investigating the effectiveness of erosion and sediment controls is to use computer models to evaluate the individual and combined effect of sediment control measures. The goals of this study are to calibrate and validate the WEPP model by comparing predicted results to field data, and to predict the effect of construction with and without erosion controls on soil loss and runoff. A 37 ha watershed within North Carolina State University's future Centennial Campus golf course in Raleigh, NC were used for monitoring and modeling. Automated samplers recording flow and retrieving samples for total suspended solids and turbidity analysis were placed in three subwatershed outlets within the watershed. Seven storm events from 2002 were used for WEPP model validation. Erosion maps generated by GeoWEPP indicated that the current land cover and soil parameters were appropriate for modeling purposes. Although suitable for soil loss prediction, single-storm simulations were not suitable for runoff prediction. Extended buffers were projected to reduce sediment losses by 16% during construction, while the design buffers were projected to decrease soil loss by only 1%, indicating that longer buffers would be an effective method for reducing sediment losses during construction. For future improvement of WEPP model simulations of this site, we plan to replace single-storm simulations with continuous simulations, using actual climate data instead of computer generated climate data.

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