Water Monitoring Data - Geospatial Data - Cumulative Watersheds

GIS shapefiles of cumulative watersheds models based on NETN's long-term water quality monitoring stations. Holdings include step-by-step instructions on how they were produced.

Cumulative watersheds are one of several physical characteristics compiled and entered into the NETN water database (NETN_H2O) and represent the geographic extent from which surface water may have traveled to reach the monitoring site. Periodicity, flood attenuation, chemical buffering capacity, nutrient load, contaminants, invasive species, and water volume are just a few of the metrics that can be better understood when viewed from a cumulative watershed context.

In addition to the watershed files, a Standard Operating Proceedure (SOP) documenting the geoprocessing steps required to calculate the area or region from which all surface water drains to NETN’s water quality monitoring sites (i.e. cumulative watershed) is also included. The process steps documented in this SOP were adapted from a University of Virginia Scholar’s Lab lecture assignment of unknown authorship titled “GIS Watershed Delineation Exercise”, circa 2012.