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Submitted to: Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) is the new generation of erosion prediction developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Bureau for Land Management (BLM) for use on the nations lands. WEPP predicts soil erosion by using a modeling approach that is much more scientifically based than is the Universal Soil Loss Equation or its revision Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The advantage of WEPP is that it will work on non rainfall conditions, such as for snow melt and for surface irrigation. Additionally, it overcomes a major criticism of past erosion prediction technologies in that it computes delivery of eroded soil from fields and farms. Because WEPP computes deposition on fields and in channels, it can be used to improve large watershed models and improve our ability to predict nutrient and pesticide losses and their delivery to nearby ponds and streams. WEPP has been very well tested in the United States and in a number of countries. WEPP is available on the Internet. Federal agencies have initiated evaluation and implementation of WEPP. Technical Abstract: WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) is the fundamentally based erosion prediction technology developed by the federal agencies for use on the nations lands. WEPP is a daily simulation model that every day computed the physical and biological status of a field. If runoff occurs due to rainfall, irrigation or snowmelt, sediment detachment and deposition on a hillslope are computed, as is delivery to a channel. If desired, WEPP computes the delivery from multiple hillslopes through a channel system (which can include most common impoundments) to an outlet from the watershed. WEPP is intended to be used on small watersheds that do not include erosion from classical gullies or continuous streams. WEPP must be a component of any models that purport to estimate sediment delivery from large areas because of the superior estimation of sediment delivery (not soil loss) to channels and streams, and because it considers erosion from all sources. Because it is a critical model for estimating realistic frequency distributions. WEPP has performed well in tests in the United States and foreign countries. WEPP is available on the internet, along with supporting materials. Federal user agencies have initiated evaluation and implementation of WEPP. |
