SWMM Modeling of a Rural Watershed in the Lower Coastal Plains of the United States

The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) has proven highly effective in modeling urban and suburban watersheds since its conception in 1969. While heavily implemented in the simulation of urban watersheds, its performance in strictly rural watersheds has been less frequently evaluated. Lower Coastal Plain watersheds are prevalent in the southern United States and the description of hydrological processes there is critical to the development of local water resources. This paper presents an ongoing research effort in a rural 2.90 km(2) site located in Pittsview, Alabama and owned by Alabama Associated General Contractors. A network of rain gauges, associated with a portable weather station, two monitoring wells and two weirs have been deployed and data is continuously recorded. Collected field data has then been used for initial development efforts of a PCSWMM model that provides representation of the rainfall-runoff processes at the watershed. As more data is obtained with regards to the local water cycle, it is anticipated that the PCSWMM model calibration will improve, which in turn will provide greater confidence in the software's ability to simulation such conditions.