Short Pump, Virginia Discharge Evaluation

ArcGIS was used to calculate parameters for the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Unit Hydrograph to study the change in discharge data after changes in land use/cover because of the construction 1.3million Square-Foot Mall. The area being studied is in Short Pump Virginia where major retail and housing construction has occurred. The main focus is to observe the changes in discharge trends before and after Short Pump Town Center was built in 2003. The Soil Conservation Service also uses a Curve Number method that takes into account land use/cover, hydrological soil groups, and geography of the watershed. These parameters are then used in The Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers to model frequency storms. In the future observed discharge data was also collected to compare the accuracy of the HEC-HMS models.