Saginaw Bay Integrated Watershed Prioritization and Management System

There are many reasons to develop a non-point source pollution prioritization system to determine which watersheds require the most attention. Once priority problem watersheds have been determined, an approach for directing specific actions is needed, i.e. targeting the specific areas of greatest potential erosion which can contribute to water quality degradation. Once targeted areas are identified, an optimizing management system can be used to examine trade-offs of the potential impacts from the implementation of various best management practice (BMP) options. The BMP's could be selected to minimize off-farm degradation of water quality and the farmers economic criteria.