Ecological Sciences  

Technical Note: 

 190-21

July 25, 2003

Subject:  

ECS – BIOLOGY – “EVALUATION OF THE BAUMER AND RICE (MUUF) PROCEDURES USED BY NRCS FOR ESTIMATION OF SOIL HYDRAULIC PARAMETERS USED IN THE SCOPE AND EFFECT EQUATIONS AND THE PROGRAM DRAINMOD”

Purpose. To advise of the electronic availability of a wetland assessment document, “Evaluation of the Baumer and Rice (MUUF) Procedures Used by NRCS for Estimation of Soil Hydraulic Parameters Used in the Scope and Effect Equations and the Program DRAINMOD.”

Effective Date. Effective upon receipt.

Background. The Wetland Science Institute, part of the Ecological Sciences Division, developed and previously distributed a wetland assessment document, “Evaluation of the Baumer and Rice (MUUF) Procedures Used by NRCS for Estimation of Soil Hydraulic Parameters Used in the Scope and Effect Equations and the Program DRAINMOD.” This document is referenced here to ensure that the science contained in this document remains available and retrievable through the NRCS Directives System.

This document addresses the methodology used by NRCS (developed by Baumer and Rice (1988)) to estimate soil hydraulic properties used in the Scope and Effect equations (Ellipse, Hooghoudt, and van Schilfgaarde) and the computer model DRAINMOD. The Scope and Effect equations and DRAINMOD are used for the purpose of evaluating the lateral effect of water table drawdown by agricultural drains. The estimation of these soil hydraulic parameters is critical in the application to wetland hydrology analysis, as well as other water table situations.

Distribution. Due to production costs, the availability of this information is limited to electronic format, accessible through the NRCS homepage, http://www.nrcs.usda.gov, Wetlands Science Institute Web site, http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/WLI. This information is also available through the NRCS electronic Directives Web site at http://policy.nrcs.usda.gov.

Filing Instructions. If a paper copy of this document is retained, please file it in the Technical Note binder, sequentially, in Title 190, Ecological Sciences, Biology section.

Contact. Comments and suggestions regarding this directive should be sent to the Wetlands Science Institute by facsimile at (301) 497-5911 or by calling (301) 497-5957.

 /s/ Ronald L. Marlow, Acting for

LAWRENCE E. CLARK
Deputy Chief
Science and Technology