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Documentation
The BASINS 4 Documentation is found under the Help pulldown menu.
EPA developed the CAT tool for BASINS 4.0 in 2006. BASINS CAT provides a flexible set of capabilities for modifying historical weather data to create climate change scenarios for assessing the influence of climate variability and change on water quantity and quality using the Hydrologic Simulation Program—FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model. The draft report provides technical information including a discussion of tool capabilities and a set of tutorials to support BASINS users interested in applying the CAT tool.
The documentation for the Climate Assessment Tool (CAT) in BASINS4 is online.
You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.
- BASINS 3.0 User Manual
- BASINS Technical Notes
- BASINS Case Study
- HSPF Users' Manual
- PLOAD Users Manual
BASINS 3.0 User Manual
Note: If the BASINS program has been install, the BASINS Users' Manual can be found under the "/BASINS/docs/" folder.
Download the entire manual (.ZIP) (6 MB)
A printed copy of the BASINS 3.0 Users Manual is freely available from our Center for Environmental Publications. Go to the search publications page and enter the publication number: EPA823B01001. Also, a web version of the Users Manual is found under the "Help" pulldown menu in the BASINS project window.
Below are PDFs of each section:
| Preface | Cover page, Acknowledgments, and Table of Contents (314 K) |
| Section 1 | Introduction (278 K) |
| Section 2 | System Overview (473 K) |
| Section 3 | Hardware and Software Requirements (279 K) |
| Section 4 | Installation (701 K) |
| Section 5 | Extension Manager(478 K) |
| Section 6 | Assessment Tools (575 K) |
| Section 7 | Data Extensions (1.4 MB) |
| Section 8.1 | Manual Watershed Delineation (1.6 MB) |
| Section 8.2 | Automatic Watershed Delineation (1.9 MB) |
| Section 8.3 | Predefined Delineation (410 K) |
| Section 9 | BASINS Utilities (2.2 MB) |
| Section 10 | Watershed Characterization Reports (1.2 MB) |
| Section 11 | Selecting Watershed and Instream Models (295 K) |
| Section 12 | References (0.3 MB) |
| Appendix A | GIS Data Dictionary (0.3 MB) |
| Appendix B | HSPF and Weather Data Files(0.8 MB) |
BASINS Technical Notes
Note: References in the technical notes are made to NPSM (NonPoint Source Model) which was the predecessor to WinHSPF (Windows Hydrological Simulation Program - Fortran) in BASINS 3.0. Please substitute "WinHSPF" for "NPSM" in the Technical Notes.
- Technical Note #1 (PDF) (83 K, 10 pp.) - Creating Hydraulic Function Tables (FTABLES) for Reservoirs in BASINS
- Technical Note #2 (PDF) (206 K, 14 pp.) - Two Automated Methods for Creating Hydraulic Function Tables (FTABLES)
- Technical Note #3 (PDF) (174 K, 9 pp.) - WinHSPF Simulation Module Matrix
- Technical Note #4 (PDF) (28 K, 11 pp.) - Incorporating Upstream Flow and Water Quality Time Series in the Source Model
- Technical Note #5 (PDF) (34 K, 15 pp.) - Using HSPEXP with BASINS
- Technical Note #6 (PDF) (200 K, 34 pp.) - Estimating Hydrology and Hydraulic Parameters for HSPF
- Addendum to Technical Note #6 (PDF) (144 K, 1 page) - Additional notes for HSPF users.
- Technical Note #7 (PDF) (58 K, 16 pp.) - Matching STORET Parameters with HSPF Output
- Technical Note #8 (PDF) (314 K, 46 pp.) - Sediment Parameter and Calibration Guidance for HSPF
- Technical Note #9 (PDF) (434 K, 14 pp.) - Web-based HSPF Toolkit to Support Low Impact Development (LID) and Other Urban Stormwater Modeling Applications
- Technical Note #10 (PDF) (211 K, 5 pp.) - Using the BASINS Meteorological Database (Version 2006)
- User's Manual for Agricultural Runoff Management (ARM) Model (select pp.) (PDF) (2.8MB, 9 pp.) of this reference are provided here for convenience.
Land Use and Land Cover Analysis for Watershed Modeling (PDF) 
(21 pp., 2.4 MB)—A method for determining the extent of effective impervious area, for use in watershed modeling.
BASINS Case Study
- Download BASINS Case Study 1 (PDF) (37 K, 13 pp.) "Cottonwood Creek Watershed, Idaho County, Idaho"
- Download accompanying data & project files archive (.ZIP) (2.7 MB) for use in the Case Study Step-by-Step Guide
- Demonstration on how load allocations and compliance costs on this case study vary across three allocation objectives or scenarios.
HSPF User Manual
- Download version 12.0 of HSPF Users' Manual (.ZIP) (10.8 MB)
- Download Microsoft Windows help file of HSPF Users' Manual (.ZIP) (3.2 MB)
- Download background document (PDF) (430 K, 101 pp.) Modeling of Nonpoint Source Water Quality in Urban and Non-urban Areas - (EPA/600/3-91/039), June 1991). This is a background document on model selection for nonpoint source modeling.
PLOAD Users Manual
Note: If the BASINS program has been installed, the PLOAD Users' Manual can be found under the "/BASINS/docs/" folder.
Download Manual (PDF) (650 K, 48 pp.) version 3.0 of PLOAD ArcView GIS Tool to Calculate Nonpoint Sources of Pollution in Watershed and Stormwater Projects Users' Manual