This summer, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) released a new online tool to help municipalities better understand stormwater drainage and pollution in the Mystic.
“The new USGS Mystic River Basin StreamStats tool lets users see where drainage infrastructure is located throughout the watershed, giving insight on how water moves through multiple pathways while providing a more accurate understanding of stormwater transport,” said Alana Spaetzel, project lead and a hydrologist with the USGS New England Water Science Center. “The tool also shows different land cover types, such as residential and commercial areas, so users can see what is located where stormwater originates and get a better idea of potential pollution sources.”
StreamStats is USGS’s state-of-the-art hydrological platform that predicts how water moves across the US, at a continental scale. It uses data and modeling to characterize and predict the behavior of rivers and streams across the country. But its ability to make fine-grained predictions in highly urbanized areas has been somewhat limited in the past, because it took a bird’s-eye view of the landscape, not taking into account how cities’ infrastructure changes the way water flows.
The new pilot tool — first deployed here in the Mystic at a watershed scale and funded in part by US EPA — changes that. It adds the network data from underground stormwater pipes, which may make possible much more accurate predictions about what pollutant loads a given area will contribute and how streams and infrastructure will behave in large storm events.
“We were thrilled to work with Mystic municipalities and USGS on the development of this tool,” says Caitlyn Whittle, Urban Waters Regional Coordinator at EPA’s Region 1. “We hope that the new StreamStats model can help municipalities estimate their stormwater pollutant inputs and plan stormwater management. We are also excited to use the tool for watershed-level planning to reduce pollution in the Mystic.”
The Mystic Stormwater Education Collaborative at MyRWA is organizing a StreamStats workshop for municipalities to showcase using the tool to identify where an intervention is needed to treat stormwater before it enters a water body and where potential flooding risks may be.
Anyone can try out the tool to learn more about stormwater in their neighborhood! To view the Mystic River Basin StreamStats application, launch StreamStats, zoom in on the area of New England and click on “Mystic River Basin” under “Select a State/Region.”
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From USGS.gov: The USGS is a part of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, an initiative that aims to coordinate resources from federal agencies and collaborate with local organizations, connect urban and metropolitan areas with their waterways and work to improve them and ensure that all individuals within the U.S. have access to safe water systems. The primary funding for this project came from the Urban Waters Federal Partnership Funds. These funds are provided by USGS and are specifically designated to support watersheds in developed communities that have degraded waterways or are considered low-income areas and historically underserved. The project was also carried out in cooperation with the EPA, MassDEP and local governments.
