Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution Modeling Using Models Integrated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Models play an important role in the estimation of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution severity and in the identification of NPS problem areas. The use of these models has been severely limited because of the data and expertise required to operate these models. The integration of NPS pollution models with geographic information systems (GIS) can likely overcome these problems. Three NPS pollution models that were integrated with a GIS were used to simulate a watershed response to a series of rainfall events. The simulated responses were compared with observed runoff and sediment data. The simulated results matched the observed results reasonably well considering model inputs were estimated from base GIS data.