Richland Creek Decision Support Framework
Tributary E.coli Priorities
Using Advanced Watershed Modeling to Support Strategies for Water Quality Improvement
End Client: The Nature Conservancy
The Cumberland River includes several segments and numerous tributaries within the greater Nashville, Tennessee metro area with 303(d) listed waterbodies. The non-profit Cumberland River Compact developed a Watershed Stewardship Plan (WSP) to add these impairments within the greater metro area including parts of Davidson County. Paradigm developed a decision support framework for the Cumberland River Compact as a tool to support their ongoing efforts related to the WSP by leveraging an existing water quality model of the Richland Creek watershed and enhancing the scale to represent neighborhood scale catchments.
Pollutant reductions required to meet 303(d) water quality objectives were quantified through analysis of model scenarios for sediment, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, and E. coli both at the catchment level throughout the watershed and at the mouth of Richland Creek. The results of this analysis were translated into a series of priority maps identifying hotspots through the Richland Creek watershed where future resources could provide the most benefit towards the WSP.