General Finance Tools
Financing Alternatives Comparison Tool (FACT) is a financial analysis tool that allows users to compare the costs associated with funding water quality projects using various financing options. This tool was designed to produce a comprehensive analysis that incorporates financing, regulatory and other important costs. With this in mind, it was also designed to be accessible to users whose area of expertise might not be in the financial fields. To this extent, FACT includes “typical values” for certain financing and annual costs.
Plan2Fund 
is a watershed planning tool being developed by the Environmental Finance Center at Boise State University that helps organizations determine their funding needs to meet the goals and objectives of their watershed program plan. Plan2Fund walks users through estimating the costs of their watershed program plan's goals and objectives, assessing any local matches, and determining funding needs to meet users' goals and objectives. Plan2Fund is currently being modified from the downloadable version to be a web-based tool. Call toll free (866) 627-9847 to get more information.
Plan2Fund Objective Prioritization Tool (OPT) is a free, web-based Watershed Planning Tool developed by the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at Boise State University to help watershed groups to build consensus as they evaluate competing goals and objectives. OPT allows users to rank competing priorities by providing a user-friendly spreadsheet that makes setting, weighting, and applying criteria simple. Your group can set its priorities with confidence and share this information with decision makers, funders, and constituents.
Rates Analysis Model is an easy-to-use, simplified cash flow model developed by the Environmental Finance Center at University of North Carolina . It allows utilities or local governments to input current water consumption rates, number of accounts, growth rate, average consumption, and expenses in order to compute net profit/losses for multiple years. Rates can also be adjusted to determine optimal levels.
Watershed Plan Builder Tool is designed for users who are just beginning to develop a watershed plan, are in the process of developing a watershed plan, or updating an existing plan. It will help get you started on developing a watershed plan by guiding you through a series of questions designed to collect information about your watershed. The information you provide will be used to produce a customized watershed plan outline.
Tools for Funders
Environmapper is a powerful EPA tool used to map various types of environmental information, including air releases, drinking water, toxic releases, hazardous wastes, water discharge permits, and Superfund sites. Select a geographic area within EnviroMapper and view the different facilities that are present within that area. Create maps at the national, state, and county levels, and link them to environmental text reports. You can even insert dynamically created maps in your own webpages. If you have a web browser, you can use EnviroMapper.
National Water Information Center (NWIS) provides access to USGS water-resources data collected at approximately 1.5 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is a USGS database that can help you answer three questions: 1) What is the condition of our Nation's streams, rivers, and ground water? 2) How are these conditions changing over time? 3) How do natural features and human activities affect these conditions, and where are those effects most pronounced?
The Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group conducts studies on how rivers and reservoirs have or will respond to changes in river flow, sediment supply, or channel modification. This Bureau of Reclamation Web site features sedimentation and hydrology models, as well as case studies of past projects.
The Watershed Academy is a focal point in EPA’s Office of Water for providing training and information on implementing watershed approaches. It features 50 self paced training modules, monthly webcast seminars, and announcements about live training courses
The Watershed and Water Quality Modeling Technical Support Center provides access to technically defensible tools and approaches that can be used in the development of watershed protection plans. This EPA website links to watershed modeling tools such as Better Assessment Science Indicating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS), Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), and Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP)
Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental Results (WATERS) is an EPA integrated information system for the nation's surface waters. This framework allows you to access data regarding water quality, permitting, safe drinking water, and nonpoint source pollution
