File: ABSTRACT.TXT


                Decision Support System for 
             Nonpoint Source Pollution  Control
                 Documentation (WATERSHEDSS)
                    Final Project Report

                      December 23, 1996

         Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling (CEAM)
              U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
               Office of Research and Development
                Environmental Research Laboratory
                    960 College Station Road
                   Athens, Georgia  30605-2720

                          706/546-3549



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Summary

An Internet-based decision support and educational software
system, WATERSHEDSS (WATER, Soil, and Hydro-Environmental
Decision Support System) (http://h2osparc.wq. ncsu.edu), was
developed to assist managers of predominantly agricultural
watersheds in defining water quality problems and selecting
appropriate nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control measures. The
objectives of the decision support system are to 1) transfer
water quality and land treatment information to watershed
managers, 2) assess NPS pollution in a watershed based on user-
supplied information and decisions, and 3) evaluate, through
geographic information system (GIS)-assisted modeling, the water
quality effects of alternative land treatment scenarios.
WATERSHEDSS consists of six components: 1) a hypertext, expert-
systems-like, user interface; 2) an educational component; 3) an
annotated bibliography of NPS literature; 4) an agricultural best
management practice (BMP) database; 5) a pollutant budget
spreadsheet: and 6) a modeling tool.  Use of the WATERSHEDSS
decision support system during the fall of 1996 averaged
approximately 150 individuals per day.  

Field research to evaluate the function and effect of position of
five stream-related  landscape features in reducing agricultural
NPS pollution was conducted.  The landscape features (an enhanced
in-stream wetland, a natural wetland, a farm pond, a restored
wooded riparian zone, and a natural riparian zone) are located
within the Goshen Swamp U.S. Department of Agriculture Hydrologic
Unit Area project in Duplin County, North Carolina.  The project
area is representative of Southeastern Coastal Plain geography
and crop and livestock production conditions.  Water quality
monitoring of input and output concentrations of nitrate-
nitrogen, ammonia-nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen,
orthophosphorus, total phosphorus, and chloride was conducted for
periods of two to three-and-a-half years (lengths varied among
the five features).  The composition of the plant communities in
four of the landscape features was sampled and analyzed.

This report was submitted in fulfillment of U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Cooperative Agreement # CR822270 by North
Carolina State University. The report covers the period from
October 1, 1993, through September 30, 1996, and was completed as
of December 23, 1996.

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