United States National Exposure

Environmental Protection Research Laboratory

Agency Research Triangle Park, NC 27711

Project Summary

Research and Development EPA/600/SR-97/080 August 1997

The Hydrological Simulation Program—FORTRAN (HSPF) is a set of computer codes that can simulate the hydrologic and associated water quality

processes on pervious and impervious

land surfaces and in streams and wellmixed impoundments. In this way,

nonpoint source loads of sediments, organic pollutants, oxygen-demanding

materials, and nutrients are generated

that can easily be combined with imposed point sources within the HSPF

system for watershed and basin-scale

environmental management. The manual

discusses the structure of the system

and presents detailed discussion of the

algorithms used to simulate various

water quantity and quality processes.

It also contains all of the information

necessary to develop input files for applying the program, including descriptions of program options, parameter

definitions, and detailed input formatting data.

This Project Summary was developed

by the National Exposure Research

Laboratory’s Ecosystems Research Division, Athens, GA, to announce key

findings of the research project that is

fully documented in a separate report

by the same title (see Project Report

ordering information at back).

The Hydrological Simulation Program—

FORTRAN, first distributed in 1980, is a

comprehensive package for simulation of

watershed hydrology and water quality for

Hydrological Simulation

Program—FORTRAN

User’s Manual for Version 11

Brian R. Bicknell, John C. Imhoff, John L. Kittle, Jr., Anthony S. Donigian, Jr.,

and Robert C. Johanson

both conventional and toxic organic pollutants. HSPF incorporates submodules

into a basin-scale analysis framework that

includes pollutant transport and transformation in one-dimensional stream channels.

HSPF is the only comprehensive model

of watershed hydrology and water quality

that allows the integrated simulation of

land and soil contaminant runoff processes

with point sources and in-stream hydraulic and sediment-chemical interactions. The

result of this simulation is a time history of

the runoff flow rate, sediment load, and

nutrient and organic pollutant concentrations, along with a time history of water

quantity and quality at any point in the

water column and benthic compartment in

a watershed. HSPF simulates three sediment types (sand, silt, and clay) in addition to a single organic chemical and transformation products of that chemical.

Preparation of the updated Version 11

of HSPF was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)

Chesapeake Bay Program Office, Region

III, and the Ecosystems Research Division (Athens GA) of the National Exposure Research Laboratory. Documentation

and code may be obtained by accessing

EPA’s Center for Exposure Assessment

Modeling home page. The address is http:/

/www.epa.gov/CEAM (case sensitive).
2

Brian R. Bicknell, John C. Imhoff, John L. Kittle, Jr., and Anthony S. Donigian, Jr.,

are with AQUA TERRA Consultants, Mountain View, CA 94043; Robert C.

Johanson is with the University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95204.

Frank E. Stancil, Jr. is the EPA Project Officer (see below).

The complete report, entitled “Hydrological Simulation Program—FORTRAN:

User’s Manual for Version 11,” (Order No. PB97-193114; Cost: $92.00, subject

to change) will be available only from:

National Technical Information Service

5285 Port Royal Road

Springfield, VA 22161

Telephone: 703-487-4650

The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:

Ecosystems Research Division

National Exposure Research Laboratory

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Athens, GA 30605-2700

• •

United States

Environmental Protection Agency

Center for Environmental Research Information (G-72)

Cincinnati, OH 45268

EPA/600/SR-97/080

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

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POSTAGE & FEES PAID

EPA

PERMIT No. G-35