WARMF

WARMF (Watershed Analysis Risk Management Framework)

Criterion	Explanation
General Description	Watershed Analysis Risk Management Framework (WARMF) is a watershed model and decision support system that simulates the physical, chemical, and biological processes in a watershed and provides scientific information to stakeholders. The graphical user interface guides stakeholders to develop and evaluate water quality management alternatives for a basin. WARMF has a comprehensive simulation engine that simulates watershed physical processes on a daily or shorter time step. The model can track approximately 40 water quality constituents from precipitation and dry deposition through vegetation canopy, land surface, soil layers, river segments, and stratified reservoirs.
Model Domain	The model domain is flexible and can be specified by the user; it includes watersheds as a network of linked land catchments, river segments, and lakes.
Developer	Electric Power Research Institute, currently supported by Systech Water Resources
Hardware computing requirements	Windows compatible PC
Code language	Technical code – FORTRAN; GUI – C++
Original application	WARMF was designed to be a decision support system to support watershed analysis and TMDL calculations for urban applications. It simulates watersheds as a network of linked land catchments, river segments, and lakes. It uses meteorological data to dynamically simulate runoff and nonpoint source loads from land.
Public/proprietary and cost	WARMF is public domain software, and available for download from the Systech website.
Physically or empirically based	WARMF is a physically based model.
Mathematical methods used	Runoff: mass balance of precipitation, interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and percolation Infiltration: modeled as a function of the available water in the layer (difference between soil moisture and field capacity) and accounts for exfiltration based on Darcy's Law Flow Routing: unknown Water Quality: pollutant buildup and wash-off calculations are adapted from SWMM code, sediment erosion from ANSWERS model code and the universal soil loss equation
Input data requirements	Spatial data: DEM, stream network, soil, land use, septic systems, and point sources. Flow and water quality data for calibration. Coefficient data of physical data, meteorology (snow, evaporation), land use, land application, irrigation, sediment transport, BMPs, septic systems, chemical and biological reactions of pollutants, soil layers.
Outputs	The model predicts daily flow and water quality variables including pH, temperature, DO, ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, suspended sediment, bacteria, cations, anion, algal species, periphyton, and metals such as iron, zinc, manganese, and copper. Pollutant loads. For stratified lakes, WARMF provides two options: 1D (vertically stratified) and 2D (using CE-QUAL-W2). Binary files are written for the GUI to display, but the model can also output text files for post-processing.
Pre-processing and post-processing tools	The model has a built-in GUI for pre- and post-processing.
Representation of uncertainty	Stochastic model runs /sensitivity analysis can be used to evaluate model uncertainty.
Prevalence	The model has been used for research purposes, and for water quality forecasting and TMDL applications. Less commonly used than other watershed models such as SWAT and HSPF.
Ease of use for public entities	The model requires a moderate amount of training and set-up time.
Ease of obtaining information and availability of technical support	Technical support is available from Systech Water Resources.
Source code availability	The Fortran code is only available for review upon request from Systech.
Status of model development	The model is available for immediate use. The future direction of model updates is unknown.
Challenges in integration	The model runs on an hourly time step and output can be exported to text files. Time series output shows simulation results (water quality and/or hydrology) for specified locations over the time period of the model simulation. Challenges may occur if other models do not provide the same amount of information at the hourly time step. WARMF does not simulate subsurface water quality which is a serious limitation for use on Delta islands.