Summary of model information

This table classifies common models by type of model.

Link to this table.

Model or tool	Input complexity	Simulation type(s)	Public domain	Unsteady flow	Type of water quality model	Built-in BMPs	Assess TP	Assess TSS	Assess volume	Comment on use
TR-55	Low	Event	Yes			None	No	No		Replaced by WinTR-55
Rational method (equation)	Low	Event	Yes			None	No	No
HEC-1	Medium		Yes			None				Replaced by HEC-HMS
HEC-HMS	Medium		Yes			None	No	No
Win TR-55 (or TR-20 DOS version)	Medium	Event or continuous	Yes			None	No	No
Win TR-55	Low	Event	Yes			None	No	No
HydroCAD	Medium	Event	No			Detention ponds and storage chambers	Yes	Yes	No
HEC-RAS	Medium	Event or continuous	Yes	Yes	Receiving water	None	Yes	No
HEC-2	Medium		yes	No		None	No	No		Replaced by HEC-RAS
WSPRO	Medium		Yes	No		None	No	No		This is an old model and likely no longer used
CulvertMaster	Low	Event	No	no		None	No	No
Flow Master	Low	Event	No	No		None	No	No
PondPack	Medium	Event	No	No		Detention ponds. PondPack can calculate first-flush volume and aid in designing for minimum drain time, but does not model pollutants	No	No	No
EPA SWMM	Medium/High	Event or continuous	Yes	Yes	Loading, Receiving Water (limited to first order decay)	Low impact development BMPs including rain barrels, permeable pavers, vegetative swales, bioretention cells, infiltration trenches; traditional BMPs including detention basins, infiltration practices, wetlands, ponds.	Yes	Yes	Yes
PC SWMM	Medium/High	Yes	No	Yes	Loading, Receiving Water (limited to first order decay)	Low impact development BMPs including rain barrels, permeable pavers, vegetative swales, bioretention cells, infiltration trenches; traditional BMPs including detention basins, infiltration practices, wetlands, ponds.	Yes	Yes	Yes
Info SWMM	Medium/High	Event/Continuous	No	Yes	Loading, Receiving Water (limited to first order decay)	Low impact development BMPs including rain barrels, permeable pavers, vegetative swales, bioretention cells, infiltration trenches; traditional BMPs including detention basins, infiltration practices, wetlands, ponds.	Yes	Yes	Yes
XPS SWMM	Medium/High	Event/Continuous	No	Yes	Loading, Receiving Water (limited to first order decay)	Rain gardens, green roofs, rain barrels, street sweeping, infiltration trenches, dry detention basins, wet ponds, swales, porour pavement, filter strips	Yes	Yes	Yes
MIKE URBAN (SWMM or MOUSE)	Medium/High	Event/Continuous	No	Yes	Loading, Receiving Water (limited to first order decay)	Low impact development BMPs including rain barrels, permeable pavers, vegetative swales, bioretention cells, infiltration trenches; traditional BMPs including detention basins, infiltration practices, wetlands, ponds.	Yes	Yes	Yes
ICPR	Medium	Event	No			Ponds	No	No	No	Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
InfoWorks ICM	High	Event/Continuous	No				Yes	Yes	Yes
Mike 11
CivilStorm	Medium	Event	No	Yes		Ponds, low impact development controls	No	No	Yes
MODRET
WINSLAMM	Medium	Event	No		BMP, Loading	Detention ponds, infiltration devices, porous pavements, grass swales, catch basin cleaning, and street cleaning.	Yes	Yes	Yes
P8	Medium	Event/Continuous	Yes		BMP, Loading	Detention ponds, infiltration basins, swales or buffer strips, and generalized devices	Yes	Yes	Yes
BASINS			Yes							BASINS is a user interface to set up models in WinHSPF, SWAT, SWMM, PLOAD, and GLWF-E. These models are listed here separately.
QUAL2E/QUAL2K	Medium		Yes							Receiving water model
WinHSPF	High	Event/Continuous	Yes	Yes	Loading, receiving water	Nutrient management, Contouring, Terracing, Ponds, Wetlands; USEPA BMP Web Toolkit available to assist with implementing structural BMPs such as detention basins, or infiltration BMPs that represent source control facilities, which capture runoff from small impervious areas (e.g., parking lots or rooftops).	Yes	Yes	Yes
LSPC	High	Event/Continuous	Yes	Yes	Loading, receiving water	Though developed for HSPF, the USEPA BMP Web Toolkit can be used with LSPC to model structural BMPs such as detention basins, or infiltration BMPs that represent source control facilities, which capture runoff from small impervious areas (e.g., parking lots or rooftops).	Yes	Yes	Yes
SWAT	Medium/High	Event/Continuous	Yes	Yes	Loading	Model offers many agricultural BMPs and practices, but limited urban BMPs at this time. BMPs related to urban practices include detention basins, infiltration practices, vegetative filter strips, street sweeping, wetlands.	Yes	Yes	Yes
PLOAD	Low	Event	Yes		Loading	User-defined practices with user-specified removal percentages	Yes	Yes	no
PondNet	Low	Event	Yes		Loading	Wet detention ponds	Yes	No	Yes
WASP	High	Event/Continuous	Yes		Receiving water	None	yes	Yes	No	Receiving water model
WMM										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
WARMF		Event/Continuous		Yes	Loading, receiving water
SHSAM	Low	Event	No		BMP	Several flow-through structures including standard sumps, and proprietary systems such as CDS, Stormceptors, and Vortechs systems	No	Yes	No
SUSTAIN	Medium	Event/Continuous	Yes			Bioretention, cisterns, constructed wetlands, dry/wet ponds, swales, green roofs, infiltration basins, infiltration trenches, porous pavement, rain barrels, sand filters, filter strips	Yes	Yes	Yes
Virginia Runoff Reduction Method											Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
MapShed	Medium	Event	Yes		Loading, BMP	Detention basins, vegetated buffer strips, stabilized streambanks, infiltration/bioretention, constructed wetlands, street sweeping	Yes	Yes	Yes	Region-specific input data not available for Minnesota but user can create this data for any region.
MIDS calculator	Low	Event	Yes			Green roof, bioretention basin (with and without underdrain), infiltration basin, permeable pavement, infiltration trench/tree box, dry swale, wet swale, sand filter, wetland, stormwater pond, user defined	Yes	Yes	Yes
EPA National Stormwater Calculator	Low	Event/Continuous	Yes			Disconnection, rain harvesting, rain gardens, green roofs, street planters, infiltration basins, porous pavement	No	No	Yes
SELECT	Low	Event	Yes			Extended detention, bioretention, wetland basin, swale, permeable pavement, filter, and user-defined	Yes	Yes	Yes
Center for Neighborhood Technology Green Values National Stormwater Management Calculator	Low	Event	Yes			Green roof, planter boxes, rain gardens, cisterns/rain barrels, native vegetation, filter strips, amended soil, swales, trees, permeable pavement	No	No	Yes
Metropolitan Council Stormwater Reuse Guide Excel Spreadsheet	Low	Event	Yes			Computes storage volume for stormwater reuse systems	No	No	Yes	Uses 30-year precipitation data specific to Twin Cites region of Minnesota
MCWD/MWMO Stormwater Reuse Calculator	Low	Event	Yes			Computes storage volume for stormwater reuse systems	No	No	Yes
North Carolina State University Rainwater Harvesting Model										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
i-Tree Streets	Low	Event	Yes			Trees	No	No	Yes
i-Tree Hydro	Low	Event	Yes			Trees, watershed scale	Yes	Yes	Yes	NOTE: Beta version
RECARGA	Low	Event/Continuous	Yes			Bioretention/rain garden and infikltration facilities	No	No	Yes
SELDM	Low		Yes		Stochastic			Yes		Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
MIDUSS										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
QHM										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
WWHM										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
HY8
Hydraulic Toolbox										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
SMS										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
GWLF-E										Replaced by MapShed
EPD-RIV1										Not believed to be a widely used model for stormwater/pollutant modeling
CE-QUAL-RIV2
CE-QUAL-W2										Receiving water model