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Contacts Training Regional MRB Studies

SPARROW , a modeling tool for the regional interpreta tion of water-quality monitoring data. The model relates in-stream water-quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and factors influencing te rrestrial and aquatic transport. SPARROW empirically estimates the origin and fa te of contaminants in river networks and quantifies uncertainties in model predictions. 

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## SPARROW Surface Wate r-Quality Modeling

SPARROW tracks nutr ient delivery locally to the outlets of inland watersheds and regionally to coastal waters. Differences in phosphorus yield in the Mississippi River Basin shown above are caused by local and regional differences in phos- phorus removal in streams and reservoirs during transport [ Read more about these and other SPARROW results] 

### RECENT ACTIVITIES

z SPARROW modeling of southeastern U.S. streams

z Rankings of watershed nutrient yields in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin

z SPARROW Fact Sheet

z Studies of denitrification and nitro g en removal in streams

z SPARROW Major River Basin (MRB) Studies

z Phosphorus and nitrogen delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin

z Dissolved solids in streams of the Southwest: Sources and sinks



### APPLICATIONS

The National Models

z Phosphorus and nitrogen delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin

z Moving from Monitoring to Prediction: The Quality of the Nation's Streams

z Natural background concentrations of nutrients in U.S. streams

z Atmospheric sources of nitrogen to ma j or U.S. estuaries

z Effect of stream channel size on nitrogen delivery to the Gulf of Mexico

z Sources of nutrients in the Nation's streams (model predictions for HUC watersheds)

Nutrients in the Northeastern United States

z Regional total nitrogen and phosphorus models

z The role of headwater streams in downstream 

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### Related Links: NAWQA Home Page NAWQA Nutrients Synthesis Program NAWQA Modeling and Software Coastal Hypoxia Research Project Denitrification Research Coord. Network SPARROW Workshop: October 2002

SPARROW Internal Web Page water quality

z New England SPARROW data viewer

z New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission ( NEIWPCC )

z U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 Project

Nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

z Application of the national models

z A regional nitrogen model

z Models for the late 1980s and the 1990s



### WATERSHED DATA FOR THE APPLICATIONS

z Hydrologic cataloging unit watersheds

z River reaches of the conterminous U.S. - USGS Enhanced River Reach File: version 2.0 (ERF1

- 2) version 1.2 (ERF1) ;

z Stream water

- quality measurements (on

- line; CD

- ROM)

z Municipal and industrial point sources

z Fertilizer use

z Livestock nutrient wastes

z Atmospheric deposition

z Population

- Census of Housing and Population

z National Resources Inventory (NRI)

z Soil characteristics

- State Soil Geographic Data (STATSGO)

z Precipitation and air temperature 

### Page 2 of 2 USGS SPARROW Surface Wate r -Quality Modeling

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