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WATERSHED ASSESSMENT MODEL

The Watershed Assessment Model (WAM) is a tool that has been shown to be useful in the assessment of watershed-related properties. The model simulates the primary physical processes important for watershed hydrologic and pollutant transport. WAM is a Geographical Information System (GIS) based model that assesses the water quantity and quality responses to different management practices within watersheds.

WAM was developed to allow users to assess the water quantity and quality of both surface water and groundwater based on the detailed physical properties of the watershed and the underlying hydrogeological system. The model simulates the primary physical processes important for watershed hydrologic and pollutant transport that originates on individual fields or land uses and then dynamically routes the flows and nutrient loads throughout the stream system to its discharge location. WAM was developed to allow engineers and planners to assess the water quality of a watershed by quantifying the flows and loads originating on parcels of land and evaluate the effectiveness of different management practice changes.

WAM is designed to take advantage of available GIS technology in that it represents, analyzes and displays a watersheds natural processes, features and interrelations between processes and features based on the spatial location and attribute information inherent to each feature. WAM is a tool to collect, synthesize and house specific data types, classify and analyze the relationships inherent to that data, and report on any patterns that exist.

It is a process based model, in that many sub-routines or processors are used depending on the stage of investigation or watershed function that is being evaluated. These sub-routines are designed to run independently from each other, but consecutive to each other, as the inputs of one routine are dependant on the output of a previous routine.

The GIS interface separates the user from requiring extensive knowledge of the sub-routine order and processes as well as the myriad of tables that store characterization data. The interface is used to setup a watershed for analysis, edit input parameters and review the output.

Welcome to the Watershed Assessment Model (WAM) Documenation. This literature is provided, through each of the Manuals listed below, to give the user both a better understanding of how the natural watershed processors are represented in the model and to serve as a guide, stepping the user through setting up a watershed, editing parameters, running the model and reviewing the output results. Advanced users have been provided with a Developers Manual which includes information necessary to customize and extend WAM.

The WAM Documentation is comprised of three separate manuals. These manuals are combined into an interlinked "on-line" resource which is available through the Graphical User Interface or through the link below:

User Manual:

The WAM User Manual is provided to assist a user in understanding the interface environment and how it is used to setup, run and review a watershed simulation. Throughout the manual the interface is described and the map features and model parameters that are edited with different components of the interface is discussed.

For each model input parameter, a screenshot is provided of where in the interface the parameter can be accessed and links provided to the relevant section in the Technical Manual, Default Parameter Classifications, Data Flow Diagram and the Developers Manuals. The User Manual can be considered a central point from which to explore WAM and how data is manipulated by the user, simulated in the model and stored in the databases.

The Technical Manual:

The Technical Manual provides details that allow a user to identify what algorithms or numerical methods are used with which model parameters to simulate each of the physical processes. Flow diagrams are used to illustrate the modeling procedure used by WAM and identify the processes that are described and discussed to give a reader a holistic and transparent justification of the science behind the model. Any assumptions made for each of the simulated processes is identified and discussed.

Developers Manual:

The WAM Developers Manual is provided to allow advanced users to be able to understand the structure and input/output files of the model code, the schema of the database(s) and to expose the default parameters sets provided with WAM. The Developers Manual provides details on; the Model Code, Default Parameter Values, Data Flow Diagrams, Folder and File Structures, and the text based Model Input Files.

Click on the graphic below to download the WAM Interface/Model and Default Parameters Database. The User Manual fully describes how to install and use the Interface. The Defaults database is needed to setup an initial Scenario, which is also covered in the User Manual.

This tutorial will guide a new WAM user through creating a new project and scenario from scratch. It will step the user through creating a new GIS Database, importing project specific data into the GIS Geodatabase and linking that to a WAM Tables Database by creating a scenario. Each input dataset that is used by WAM will be edited to expose the functionality built into the interface. The model will be run and the output results reviewed and discussed. Additionally, a separate scenario using the same watershed will be created and run to illustrate the use of the output reviewing tools for comparing different WAM runs. For more experienced WAM users, this can serve has a useful guide on how to edit certain elements of WAM.

To run the tutorial, the data needs to be downloaded and unzipped. Follow tutorial instructions included in the WAM User Documentation, which can be download from the link under that section above.

Download the WAM Tutorial Data from the link below:

SWET has hosted numerous training seminars for WAM. Traditionally, these have been 2 day workshops, where both the theory behind the model is explained through the use of Powerpoint Presentation as well as question and answer sessions. This is followed by the participants setting up and running the tutorial basin, while we assist and explain in further details how the model is correctly setup to represent each of the natural processes that are simulated.

Please contact SWET to either find out when we are hosting a training in your area or set up a time.