Skip to main content

Katherine R Merriman

Intro

Katie started with the U.S. Geological Survey as a student contractor for the NRP in Boulder, CO in 2008. She joined the Arkansas Water Science Center as a Hydrologist in 2010, the Illinois Water Science Center in 2013, and the New York Water Science Center in 2019. Katie has developed SWAT models for water quality issues all over the country. Her most recent project was developing field-scale SWAT models to support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Priority Watersheds project, to determine the impact of agricultural conservation practices within small watersheds in the Great Lakes Basin. She has experience on several other models, such as: HSPF, APEX, HEC-HMS. Her other past work has included GIS based projects, including inundation mapping, calculating basin characteristics, and creating arcPython based scripts to automate calculations, compute statistics and produce reports. Her work in Arkansas concluded with a capstone project, documenting everything groundwater in the state, which was one of the top OGW publications for 2014. She also worked on the 2015 USGS water use compilation for the Illinois. She previously worked on a wide range of environmental engineering and water quality projects while in federal consulting (EPA, DOD, DOE) for two years.

Education

M.S. -- Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, 2008

B.S. -- Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Arkansas, 2005

Science and Products

Assessment of site-specific agricultural Best Management Practices in the Upper East River watershed, Wisconsin, using a field-scale SWAT model

The Great Lakes “Priority Watershed” effort targeted the Upper East River watershed, a 116.5 km2 tributary watershed to Green Bay in Wisconsin, to reduce sediment and nutrients entering Green Bay. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was created to determine the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs) derived from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Assessing the impact of site-specific BMPs using a spatially explicit, field-scale SWAT model with edge-of-field and tile hydrology and water-quality data in the Eagle Creek watershed, Ohio

The Eagle Creek watershed, a small subbasin (125 km2) within the Maumee River Basin, Ohio, was selected as a part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) “Priority Watersheds” program to evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) funded through GLRI at the field and watershed scales. The location and quantity of BMPs were obtained from the U.S. Department
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Calibration of a field-scale Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model with field placement of best management practices in Alger Creek, Michigan

Subwatersheds within the Great Lakes “Priority Watersheds” were targeted by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to determine the effectiveness of the various best management practices (BMPs) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service National Conservation Planning (NCP) Database. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is created for Alger Creek,
By
Central Midwest Water Science Center

Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Iimplementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Alger Creek, Tributary to Saginaw River, Michigan

The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted in water quality impairments across the Great Lakes. Studies increasingly point to phos
By
Water Resources, Central Midwest Water Science Center

Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Eagle Creek, Tributary to Maumee River, Ohio

Introduction The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted in water quality impairments across the Great Lakes. Studies increasingly
By
Water Resources, Central Midwest Water Science Center

Development of an Assessment Tool for Agricultural Best Management Practice Implementation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Priority Watersheds—Upper East River, Tributary to Green Bay, Wisconsin

Introduction The Great Lakes face a number of serious challenges that cause damage to water quality, habitat, ecology, and coastal health. Excess nutrients from point and nonpoint sources have a history of causing harmful algal blooms (HABs); since the late 1990s, a resurgence of HABs have forced beach closures and resulted in water quality impairments across the Great Lakes. Studies increasingly
By
Water Resources, Central Midwest Water Science Center

Aquifers of Arkansas: protection, management, and hydrologic and geochemical characteristics of groundwater resources in Arkansas

Sixteen aquifers in Arkansas that currently serve or have served as sources of water supply are described with respect to existing groundwater protection and management programs, geology, hydrologic characteristics, water use, water levels, deductive analysis, projections of hydrologic conditions, and water quality. State and Federal protection and management programs are described according to re
By
Water Resources, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Trends in precipitation, streamflow, reservoir pool elevations, and reservoir releases in Arkansas and selected sites in Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, 1951–2011

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) conducted a statistical analysis of trends in precipitation, streamflow, reservoir pool elevations, and reservoir releases in Arkansas and selected sites in Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma for the period 1951–2011. The Mann-Kendall test was used to test for trends in annual and seasonal precipitation, annual and seaso
By
Water Resources, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Analysis and inundation mapping of the April-May 2011 flood at selected locations in northern and eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri

Precipitation that fell from April 19 through May 3, 2011, resulted in widespread flooding across northern and eastern Arkansas and southern Missouri. The first storm produced a total of approximately 16 inches of precipitation over an 8-day period, and the following storms produced as much as 12 inches of precipitation over a 2-day period. Moderate to major flooding occurred quickly along many st
By
Water Resources, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Pre-USGS Publications

Merriman, K., M. Gitau, and I. Chaubey. 2009. A tool for estimating Best Management Practice effectiveness in Arkansas. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 25(2): 199-213. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.26333

Science and Products