Evaluation of the predictive reliability of a new watershed health assessment method using the SWAT model.

The purpose of watershed assessments is to give information about conditions of water quality, stream morphology, and biological integrity to identify the sources of stressors and their impacts. In recent decades, different watershed assessment methods have been developed to evaluate the cumulative impacts of human activities on watershed health and the condition of aquatic systems. In the current research, we propose a new approach for assessing watershed vulnerability to contamination based on spatial analysis by using geographic information systems (GIS) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique.

A novel approach for assessing watershed susceptibility using weighted overlay and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methodology: a case study in Eagle Creek Watershed, USA.

Watershed vulnerability and the characterization of potential risk are important inputs for decision support tools in assessing watershed health. Most previous studies have focused on the assessment of the environmental risk using physicochemical properties of surface water and mathematical models to predict the health of a watershed. Here, we present a new methodology for evaluating watershed vulnerability using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted overlay analysis.

Statistical assessment of nonpoint source pollution in agricultural watersheds in the Lower Grand River watershed, MO, USA.

The water quality in many Midwestern streams and lakes is negatively impacted by agricultural activities. Although the agricultural inputs that degrade water quality are well known, the impact of these inputs varies as a function of geologic and topographic parameters. To better understand how a range of land use, geologic, and topographic factors affect water quality in Midwestern watersheds, we sampled surface water quality parameters, including nitrate, phosphate, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, bacteria, pH, specific conductance, temperature, and biotic index (BI) in 35 independent sub-watersheds within the Lower Grand River Watershed in northern Missouri.