Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2019MI138B

Assessing the accuracy of the Michigan EnviroImpact tool

Institute: Michigan
Year Established: 2019 Start Date: 2019-05-31 End Date: 2020-05-30
Total Federal Funds: $4,902 Total Non-Federal Funds: $7,593

Principal Investigators: Jason Piwarski

Abstract: The Michigan EnviroImpact tool provides daily forecasts for surface runoff and this proposal aims to evaluate its accuracy on subsurface-drained farms. This will be achieved by setting up multiple time-lapse cameras and taking photos on an hourly basis, looking at water ponding and movement on the surface. These photos will be compared to the 24-hour forecast that were provided for that day. A summary with the frequency of correct forecasts, missed forecasts, and false positives will be created and analyzed. A stream network for potential surface runoff paths has been developed and the cameras will be located on these runoff paths. In addition to cameras observing surface runoff, one camera will be located inside a controlled-drainage structure in order to discover whether a correlation exists between high-water table and surface runoff.