Integrated Stormwater and Watershed Management System (ISWMS®)

Welcome to the Integrated Stormwater and Watershed Management System (ISWMS) Home Page. This site provides updates of the development of the program.

What is ISWMS?

The Integrated Stormwater and Watershed Management System (ISWMS) is now a windows-based watershed management and flood forecasting system. Version 1.0 was developed by Greenland International in 2001 for the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority. Our vision of ISWMS was to have capabilities to conduct multi-function hydrologic, water quality and hydraulic analyses for watershed management and water infrastructure planning.

In 2003, GREENLAND® was retained to develop an ISWMS model of the 3,200km2 Nottawasaga Valley Watershed, north of Toronto, Canada. In 2005, Greenland Technologies Group began work on the “next generation” of the software. This new phase is also referred to as “IWMM” (Integrated Watershed Management Model) and its main components will include:

• GIS Watershed Data Management (Completed)
• Flood Warning Data Management (Completed)
• Flood Forecasting Capabilities (Completed)
• Hydrologic Analysis for Design & Planning (Completed)
• Water Balance Modeling (Completed)
• Nutrient Loading and Water Quality Analysis (Completed)
• Predictive Modeling of Urban and Rural BMP Effectiveness (Completed)
• Instream and Wetland Assimilative Capacity Tools (Under Development)
• Flood Risk Management & Hydraulic Modeling (Tentative)
• Stream Health Monitoring & Assessment Tool (Tentative)
• Lake Capacity Model Integration (Tentative)
• Groundwater Modeling Integration (Tentative)

The capabilities developed recently were part of a nutrient management and source protection research initiative involving the Province of Ontario, Canada. The hydrologic and hydraulic analysis capabilities of ISWMS will continue to combine features from U.S. models plus other methodologies used in Canada. All are accepted analysis methods used world-wide. Powerful functionality was provided with the initial program - including Climate and Flood Forecasting (including Flood Vulnerable Area (FVA)) modules. With these first modules, the user can:

1. Set-up and maintain visual and tabled information of the watershed's hydrology;
2. Store, maintain, and use flood warning information describing flood vulnerable sites in the watershed and related flood management responses;
3. Using up-to-date antecedent moisture conditions (soil moisture and snow pack and temperature data), calculate the stream flow at flood vulnerable areas (FVA) and the corresponding water levels resulting from future forecasted weather conditions. The system will store flood emergency response action plan for use during flood warning events;
4. Conduct planning-level surface flow analysis using single and continuous weather information;
5. Conduct real-time flow forecasts using predicted weather data (rainfall and snow melt) and relate the results to the flood vulnerable site data; and,
6. Facilitate the calibration of the model using observed precipitation, temperature, snow courses and flow data.

The initial ISWMS "blueprint" is presented below.

History and What's New

• November 1999: Completion of ISWMS (Version 1.0).
• January 2000 - July 2001: Beta testing of ISWMS (v1.0) for the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority.
• January 2002 - 2003: Model development and testing for the Nottawasaga Valley Watershed using GIS data sets.
• May 2003: Workshop training of Conservation Authority staff.
• July 2003: Initiation of nutrient management, water budget and source protection (including a predictive BMP module) software components.
• November 2004: Completion of nutrient management, water budget and source protection (including a predictive BMP module) software components.
• April 2005: Initiation of instream and wetland assimilative capacity and other software components – including, enhanced output data graphics.
• May 2005: Finalization of work program / budget and identification of funding sources to develop remaining components of ISWMS and the IWMM software.
• June 2006: Completion of instream and wetland assimilative capacity components, enhanced output data graphics and TMML (Total Maximum Monthly Load) modelling capabilities that were initiated in April 2005.
• February 2007: Completion of enhanced water budget, water quantity stress assessment and predictive Best Management Plan modelling components for Tier ‘1” source water protection studies in Ontario, Canada. Software modifications were based on an independent peer review by researchers affiliated with the University of Guelph and Ontario’s Conservation Authority staffs. To-date, the new software has been adopted for use by the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority, Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority and Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority ( Canada).
• March 2007: Initiation of pilot basin testing of new urban development and low impact Best Management Practices modelling routines for the City of Barrie, City of Peterborough, City of Oshawa and Town of Whitby ( Canada).
• April 2007: Renewal of software research and development collaboration partnerships involving the Greenland Group of Companies, University of Guelph ( Canada) and Penn State University (U.S.A.)
• May 2007: Initiation of web-based analytical and software mapping capabilities for nutrient trading programs, in partnership with Canadian Provinces and Federal Government.