Watershed Restoration Prioritization Project

Abstract

The goal is to serve DoE’s mission to improve water quality and satisfy the Federal Mandate to meet the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) requirement of reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment in Prince George’s watersheds by 2025. The requirement is set by the EPA. Currently design teams select projects on a site by site basis, based on information sources such as SharePoint, MS Project, PGAtlas and field study. There is no existing visualization or scoring tool that prioritizes projects based on how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment is produced in an area. This project’s objective is to prioritize areas for restoration based on the amount of pollutants a site is producing, thus saving energy, effort, time, and making the process more cost effective.