Academy Of Natural Sciences Previews New Watershed Restoration Assessment Tool

The Academy of Natural Sciences this week previewed a new watershed restoration assessment tool called SWIM - Streamlined Watershed Integrated Model-- during a hearing by the House Republican Policy Committee.

 

Dr. Jerry Mead, Senior Scientist at the Academy and head of the Patrick Center for Environmental Research Watershed and Systems Ecology Section, told the Committee watershed protection and restoration is absolutely essential to the continued management of our water resources.

 

"Because watersheds are extremely complicated systems, important decisions must often be made using incomplete data and actions are often taken with a high level of uncertainty as to their outcomes," said Dr. Mead. "The Streamlined Watershed Integrated Model or SWIM has the potential to markedly decrease the uncertainty and ensure the effective depolyment of restoration resources."

 

Dr. Mead described the SWIM tool as a GIS-based system that evaluates the current state of a watershed and simulates the results of changes made to the watershed during restoration, for example adding forested riparian buffers and using other best management practices to specific areas in a watershed.

 

SWIM analyzes the changes and estimates the water quality changes specific restoration techniques would make in the stream using eight different environmental indicators.

 

Also present at the hearing was James M. Seif, former Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and currently on the Academy's Board of Trustees.

 

"There are many watershed modeling tools available, but the user friendly approach taken by the Academy's scientists will make this a valuable tool for regulators, planners, grant givers, developers, watershed organizations and communities. We look forward to its full deployment," said Seif. He added the Academy will host a meeting later in the Spring to introduce the tool to the public at large.

Rep. Stan Saylor (R-York) serves as Chair of the Policy Committee.

 

A copy of the Academy testimony is available online.

 

For more information, visit the Patrick Center webpage or contact Dr. Mead by sending email to: mead@ansp.org.