GDVFS: A New Toolkit for Analysis and Design of Vegetative Filter Strips Using VFSMOD

Abstract

Abstract The Guelph design tool for vegetative filter strips, GDVFS, is a toolkit for the analysis and design of vegetative filter strips (VFSs). The upland hydrology model UH and the vegetative filter strip model VFSMOD (the two main components of GDVFS) were adopted from an existing interface (VFSMOD-W), and new nutrient and bacteria transport add-ons for UH and VFSMOD were incorporated into GDVFS. Other utilities and tools were also included in GDVFS to provide a capable toolkit for the analysis and design of VFSs. The published evaluation of computational procedures used in GDVFS indicates that these procedures perform very well in the estimation of VFS sediment and phosphorus removal efficiencies. According to these results, comparison of the predicted and observed values for sediment and phosphorus removal efficiencies indicates 10 and 20% error, respectively. This paper provides descriptions on the capabilities and methodology followed in the GDVFS toolkit.