Water Resources Applications Software
Summary of HSPF
NAME
hspf - Hydrological Simulation Program--Fortran
ABSTRACT
HSPF simulates for extended periods of time the hydrologic, and
associated water quality, processes on pervious and impervious land
surfaces and in streams and well-mixed impoundments.
HSPF uses continuous rainfall and other meteorologic records to
compute streamflow hydrographs and pollutographs. HSPF simulates
interception soil moisture, surface runoff, interflow, base flow,
snowpack depth and water content, snowmelt, evapotranspiration,
ground-water recharge, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD), temperature, pesticides, conservatives, fecal coliforms,
sediment detachment and transport, sediment routing by particle
size, channel routing, reservoir routing, constituent routing, pH,
ammonia, nitrite-nitrate, organic nitrogen, orthophosphate, organic
phosphorus, phytoplankton, and zooplankton. Program can simulate
one or many pervious or impervious unit areas discharging to one or
many river reaches or reservoirs. Frequency-duration analysis can
be done for any time series. Any time step from 1 minute to 1 day
that divides equally into 1 day can be used. Any period from a few
minutes to hundreds of years may be simulated. HSPF is generally
used to assess the effects of land-use change, reservoir operations,
point or nonpoint source treatment alternatives, flow diversions,
etc. Programs, available separately, support data preprocessing and
postprocessing for statistical and graphical analysis of data saved
to the Watershed Data Management (WDM) file.
METHOD
The model contains hundreds of process algorithms developed from
theory, laboratory experiments, and empirical relations from
instrumented watersheds.
HISTORY
The model was developed in the early 1960's as the Stanford
Watershed Model. In the 1970's, water-quality processes were added.
Development of a Fortran version incorporating several related
models using software engineering design and development concepts
was funded by the Athens, Ga., Research Lab of EPA in the late
1970's. In the 1980's, preprocessing and postprocessing software,
algorithm enhancements, and use of the USGS WDM system were
developed jointly by the USGS and EPA. The current release is
Version 11. An interactive version (see HSPEXP) was developed by
the USGS in the 1990's.
DATA REQUIREMENTS
Meteorologic records of precipitation and estimates of potential
evapotranspiration are required for watershed simulation. Air
temperature, dewpoint temperature, wind, and solar radiation are
required for snowmelt. Air temperature, wind, solar radiation,
humidity, cloud cover, tillage practices, point sources, and (or)
pesticide applications may be required for water-quality simulation.
Physical measurements and related parameters are required to
describe the land area, channels, and reservoirs.
OUTPUT OPTIONS
Output is either printed tables at any time step, a flat file, or
the WDM file. The postprocessing software uses data from the WDM
file. Hundreds of computed time series may be selected for the
output files.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
HSPF is written in Fortran 77 with the following extension: use of
include files. The HSPF, HSPNODSS, WDM, ADWDM, and UTIL libraries
from LIB are required to recompile. For more information, see System
Requirements in LIB.
APPLICATIONS
There have been hundreds of applications of HSPF all over the world.
The largest application is the 62,000 square mile tributary area to
the Chesapeake Bay. The smallest application has been experimental
plots of a few acres near Watkinsville, Ga. The most significant
applications within the USGS have been in the Seattle area, Chicago
area, Patuxent River, Md., Truckee-Carson Basins, Nev., and
watersheds in Pennsylvania.
DOCUMENTATION
Bicknell, B.R., Imhoff, J.C., Kittle, J.L., Jr., Donigian, A.S.,
Jr., and Johanson, R.C., 1997, Hydrological Simulation
Program--Fortran: User's manual for version 11: U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research
Laboratory, Athens, Ga., EPA/600/R-97/080, 755 p.
RELATED DOCUMENTATION
Flynn, K.M., Hummel, P.R., Lumb, A.M., and Kittle, J.L., Jr., 1995,
User's manual for ANNIE, version 2, a computer program for
interactive hydrologic data management: U.S. Geological Survey
Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4085, 211 p.
REFERENCES
Dinicola, R.S., 1990, Characterization and simulation of rainfall-
runoff relations for headwater basins in western King and
Snohomish Counties, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Water-
Resources Investigations Report 89-4052, 52 p.
Donigian, A.S., Jr., Imhoff, J.C., Bicknell, Brian, Kittle, J.L.,
Jr., 1984, Application guide for Hydrological Simulation
Program--Fortran (HSPF): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Environmental Research Laboratory, Athens, Ga., EPA-600/3-84-065,
177 p.
Johanson, R.C., Imhoff, J.D., and Davis, H.H., Jr., 1980, Users
manual for hydrological simulation program - Fortran (HSPF):
Environmental Research Laboratory, EPA-600/9-80-015, Athens, Ga.,
April 1980.
TRAINING
Watershed Systems Modeling I (SW2008TC), offered annually at the
USGS National Training Center.
Watershed Systems Modeling II (SW3018TC), offered upon request at
the USGS National Training Center.
River Basin Water-Quality Modeling (ID2146TC), offered annually at
the USGS National Training Center.
Occasionally, EPA, Aqua Terra Consultants, and Hydrocomp, Inc.,
offer training courses.
CONTACTS
Operation and Distribution:
U.S. Geological Survey
Hydrologic Analysis Software Support Program
437 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
h2osoft@usgs.gov
Official versions of U.S. Geological Survey water-resources analysis
software are available for electronic retrieval via the World Wide
Web (WWW) at:
http://water.usgs.gov/software/
and via anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP) from:
water.usgs.gov (path: /pub/software).
The WWW page and anonymous FTP directory from which the HSPF
software can be retrieved are, respectively:
http://water.usgs.gov/software/hspf.html
--and--
/pub/software/surface_water/hspf
SEE ALSO
annie(1) - Program to list, table, plot data in a WDM file
dr3m(1) - Distributed Routing Rainfall-Runoff Model
--version II
dr3m-qual - Multi-event urban runoff quality model
hspexp(1) - Expert system for calibration of HSPF
iowdm(1) - Program to store time-series data in a WDM file
prms(1) - Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System
The URL for this page is: http://water.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/man_wrdapp?hspf
Send questions or comments to h2osoft@usgs.gov