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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #171901
Title: DEVELOPMENT OF A GIS-BASED DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR BEAVER LAKE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

Author
item PANDA, SUDHANSHU - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item CHAUBEY, INDRAJEET - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item MATLOCK, MARTY - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item Haggard, Brian
item WHITE, KATI - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: American Water Resources Association Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2004
Publication Date: 5/17/2004
Citation: Panda, S.S., Chaubey, I., Matlock, M.D., Haggard, B.E., White, K.L. 2004. Development of a GIS-based decision support system for beaver lake watershed management. In: Proceedings of the American Water Resources Association Spring Specialty Conference. Nashville, Tennessee. 2004 CDROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Beaver Lake, a multi-use reservoir in Northwest Arkansas, is the principal drinking water supply source to more then 260,000 people in the area. Accelerated eutrophication of the Lake is a major concern due to urban and agricultural land use changes. There is a need to identify current land use practices in the watershed that contribute majority of sediment and nutrients to the lake. In addition, a GIS-based decision support system (DSS) needs to be developed that can be used to analyze the effect of land use changes on sediment and nutrient delivery, and stream and lake water quality. The DSS can help assess present water quality in streams and the lake, quantify water quality trends, and identify areas for future monitoring needs. We have developed a Beaver Lake Watershed Decision Support System (BLWDSS) incorporating a general database using MS-Access, MS-Excel, and other database software with interactive structured query language (SQL) facility and have linked it to GIS-based watershed information in graphical user interface (GUI) format. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is used to model the effects of various land use activities on nutrient loadings into streams. A reservoir model (CE-QUAL-W2) is used to quantify the effect of sediment and nutrients loads on lake water quality. The Arc-IMS is used as a vehicle for the BLWDSS delivery. The BLWDSS ensures faster and economic means for watershed water quality information dissemination to the general public. It is also designed to help various states, federal and local agencies in making watershed management decisions for water quality protection.