EPA has developed a series of lectures and exercises on how to use BASINS for water quality modeling and watershed assessment. The lectures follow sequentially. Companion exercises are provided for users to practice different BASINS water quality modeling techniques and applications. The exercises are referenced at various stages throughout the lectures to encourage user participation.
The BASINS Tutorials are accessed individually or by downloading the BASINS 4 dataset(265 pp, 71 MB) . Please read the "readme1st" file for correct placement of the folders in the BASINS directory. The following table lists lectures and exercises along with a link to a PDF file.
Note: BASINS Tutorials were developed for BASINS 4.0 and have not been updated for BASINS 4.5. However, the following tutorials are still compatible with the current version (4.5) of BASINS.
You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.- 01Lecture 1 Introduction to BASINS (PDF)(39 pp, 2 MB)
- 02Lecture 2 Introduction to the HSPF Model (PDF)(33 pp, 3 MB)
- 03Lecture 3 Watershed Delineation (PDF)(17 pp, 949 K)
- 04Exercise 1 Building a BASINS Project and Data Download Tool (PDF)(26 pp, 2 MB)
- 05Lecture 4 Weather Data and WDM Utility (PDF)(27 pp, 930 K)
- 06Exercise 2 Manual and Automatic Watershed Delineation (PDF)(21 pp, 3 MB)
- 07Lecture 5 Hydrologic Processes (PDF)(35 pp, 671 K)
- 08Exercise 3 WDM Utility (PDF)(23 pp, 467 K)
- 09Lecture 6 Channel Routing (PDF)(18 pp, 692 K)
- 10Lecture 7 Operational Aspects (PDF)(39 pp, 1 MB)
- 11Lecture 8 Watershed Segmentation (PDF)(28 pp, 2 MB)
- 12Exercise 4 Introduction to WinHSPF and GenScn (PDF)(32 pp, 900 K)
- 13Exercise 5 Segmentation (PDF)(21 pp, 392 K)
- 14Exercise 6 WinHSPF Hydrology Calibration (PDF)(28 pp, 431 K)
- 15Lecture 9 Snow Processes, Parameters, and Calibration (PDF)(18 pp, 1 MB)
- 16Exercise 7 HSPEXP (PDF)(30 pp, 442 K)
- 17Lecture 10 Sediment Processes, Parameters, and Calibration (PDF)(24 pp, 2 MB)
- 18Lecture 11 Nonpoint Source (NPS) Quality Processes, Parameters, and Calibration (PDF)(21 pp, 337 K)
- 19Lecture 12 Water Quality Modeling: Temperature, Sediment, and General Constituents (PDF)(36 pp, 2 MB)
- 20Exercise 8 Simulation of Snow Accumulation and Melt (PDF)(47 pp, 716 K)
- 21Exercise 9a Sediment Erosion (PDF)(31 pp, 289 K)
- 22Exercise 9b Sediment Transport (PDF)(26 pp, 284 K)
- 23Exercise 10 Bacteria and Temperature (PDF)(23 pp, 262 K)
- 24Exercise 11 AGCHEM (PDF)(22 pp, 354 K)
- 25Lecture 13 AGCHEM Processes, Parameters, and Calibration (PDF)(20 pp, 2 MB)
- 26Exercise 12 Nutrient, Dissolved Oxygen, and Algae Modeling (PDF)(25 pp, 223 K)
- 27Exercise 13 Water Quality Calibration (PDF)(14 pp, 263 K)
- 28Lecture 14 Instream Water Quality Biochemical Reactions (PDF)(35 pp, 828 K)
- 29Lecture 15 Watershed Model Calibration and Validation (PDF)(58 pp, 2 MB)
- 30Lecture 16 Analysis of Alternatives: Modeling Scenarios, BMPs, and TMDLs (PDF)(56 pp, 2 MB)
- 31Lecture 17 Additional HSPF Features (PDF)(12 pp, 422 K)
- 32Exercise 14 Modeling Alternatives Scenarios, BMPs, and TMDLs (PDF)(17 pp, 227 K)
- 33Exercise 15 HSPFParm Tool (PDF)(10 pp, 247 K)
- 34AppendixB Hydrology Calibration (PDF)(20 pp, 181 K)
- 35Appendix C Calculating Observed Flow Volumes for Calibration (PDF)(7 pp, 117 K)
- 36Appendix D Downloading HSPEXP (PDF)(5 pp, 68 K)
- 37Appendix E Using the TMDL USLE Tool to Estimate Sediment Loads (PDF)(14 pp, 646 K)
- 38Appendix F Manually Adding Temperature and Fecal Coliform (PDF)(22 pp, 270 K)
- 39Appendix G Pollutant Selection Tool Information (PDF)(7 pp, 45 K)