SPARROW Modeling of Surface-Water Quality
SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed Attributes

A method for regional interpretation of water-quality monitoring data

Stream nitrogen yield (kg/km2/yr) for conterminous U.S. watersheds

SPARROW relates in-stream water-quality measurements to spatially referenced characteristics of watersheds, including contaminant sources and factors influencing terrestrial and stream transport.

The model empirically estimates the origin and fate of contaminants in streams, and quantifies uncertainties in these estimates based on model coefficient error and unexplained variability in the observed data.

DOCUMENTATION
SOFTWARE
PUBLICATIONS
FAQs
CONTACTS
TRAINING

RELATED LINKS:
Coastal Hypoxia Research Project
Denitrification Research Coord. Network
NAWQA Home Page
NAWQA Nutrients Synthesis Program SPARROW Workshop: October 2002
SPARROW Internal Web Page

RECENT ACTIVITIES
• Phosphorus and nitrogen delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin
  
• The role of headwater streams in downstream water quality
  Journal AWRA Feb 2007 Featured Collection on Headwaters Hydrology
  
• Documentation and software for the SPARROW model
  
• Sources and sinks of dissolved solids in the Southwest
  
• Congressional briefing sheet:
  "Moving from Monitoring to Prediction: The Quality of the Nation's Streams"
  
• Nutrients in the Northeastern United States
  -New England SPARROW data viewer
  -New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC)
  -U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 Project
  
• Natural background concentrations of nutrients in U.S. streams
  

APPLICATIONS
• The National Models:
  - Phosphorus and nitrogen delivery to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin
  -Atmospheric sources of nitrogen to major U.S. estuaries
  -Sources of nutrients in the Nation's watersheds
  -Effect of stream channel size on nitrogen delivery to the Gulf of Mexico
  -SPARROW predictions by watershed

• Nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed:
  -Application of the national models
  -A locally calibrated nitrogen model
  -Models for the late 1980s and the 1990s

• Public Drinking-Water Supplies:
  - Assessing the susceptability of surface drinking water supplies to contamination
  

• Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL): A proposed application

WATERSHED DATA FOR THE APPLICATIONS
• Hydrologic cataloging unit watersheds
• River reaches of the conterminous U.S. - USGS Enhanced River Reach File:
  version 2.0 (ERF1-2) version 1.2 (ERF1);
• Stream water-quality measurements (on-line; CD-ROM)
• Municipal and industrial point sources
• Fertilizer use
• Livestock nutrient wastes
• Atmospheric deposition
• Population - Census of Housing and Population
• National Resources Inventory (NRI) of land use and natural resource conditions
• Soil characteristics - State Soil Geographic Data (STATSGO)
• Precipitation and air temperature