​Watershed Studies & Hydrology

The hydrologic cycle describes how water continuously moves between the atmosphere, land, and ocean. Evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, runoff, infiltration and exchange with groundwater are the processes that control surface water flow in a drainage basin. The amount of flow in a watershed, in turn, is determined by topography, types of soils and land uses. Watershed hydrology models are used to provide the water quantity information needed for flood control, drought management and water supply studies. Along with the flow of water, sediments, nutrients, organic matter, contaminants and pathogens are transported as nonpoint source loads to surface waters by erosion and stormwater runoff. Nonpoint source runoff from a watershed, combined with point source discharges from wastewater treatment facilities, can then cause impairment of the beneficial uses of a waterbody. Watershed runoff models that describe the cause-effect interactions of precipitation and the routing of streamflow and pollutants are developed to provide the information needed for water quality management studies to decide how best management practices can be designed to restore and maintain beneficial uses of surface waters.
Dynamic Solutions engineers are experienced in the application of public domain watershed models supported by

• the US Army Corps of Engineers (HEC-HMS)
• the US Environmental Protection Agency (HSPF, SWMM)
• and the US Department of Agriculture

Dynamic Solutions engineers have developed watershed models for both small and large catchments. Many of the watershed models developed by Dynamic Solutions are constructed to provide input data for hydrodynamic, sediment transport and water quality models to create an integrated surface water model framework. This approach gives our clients a technically sound foundation to apply the models to evaluate management alternatives to determine point and nonpoint source load allocations, including Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) required by the Clean Water Act, to meet water quality goals. Surface water models have been developed by DSLLC for large drainage basins under a range of hydrologic conditions using the HSPF model for watershed runoff and the EFDC model for hydrodynamics, sediment transport and water quality for rivers in Ohio, lakes and reservoirs in Oklahoma, estuaries in Florida and the coastal waters of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands.
Please read about some of our Watershed & Hydrology studies below:
Caloosahatchee River Water Quality Modeling – EFDC
Perdido Bay Water Quality Modeling – EFDC


Read more about the HSPF Model

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