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Oral

Watershed

Advances in Water Quantity and Quality Modeling for Holistic Watershed Management

Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Modeling, Planning, and Design: A Synthesis of Resources for Watershed Stakeholders

Tuesday, May 23, 2023
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM PDT
Room: El Viento IV
The ASCE Manual of Practice (MOP) 150, “Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Development and Implementation: Models, Methods, and Resources,” was written by the ASCE-EWRI TMDL Analysis and Modeling Task Committee. Chapter 12 of the MOP, “Modeling for TMDL Implementation,” discusses state-of-the-practice on uses of models in TMDL implementation planning.

The Committee is currently expanding its work. In this paper, the six watershed models reviewed in the MOP Chapter 12 will be further critically reviewed along with other models, such as USEPA’s Green Infrastructure (GI) Modeling Toolkit, existing best management practice (BMP) and low impact development (LID) models, including the Landscape and Green Infrastructure Design (L-GrlD) model for designing GI strategies with flexibility to support stakeholder engagement, decision support tools for stormwater management, and other watershed and receiving water models that can advance the TMDL implementation state-of-the-practice. Application of these modeling tools including related challenges (e.g., data limitations) will be addressed. Non-traditional approaches with cost-effective implementation will be evaluated, along with broadening the scope of TMDL to combine with other similar watershed management efforts for greater synergy. Designing the implementation measures (e.g., BMPs) before going into the ground is a crucial step for the success of TMDLs, which will be addressed, including engaging stakeholders and managing multiple co-benefits and diverse costs. Emerging technologies (e.g., remote sensing) will be further looked into from the perspective of efficacy of the implementation measures in the long run.

A progress on the above work will be presented and feedback from the audience will be encouraged.