Published In

Hydrological Processes

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-10-2025

Subjects

Hydrology -- Research -- Watersheds

Abstract

Understanding how water moves through a watershed is one of the most fundamental yet often complicated aspects of hydrology, especially in urban areas. Urban infrastructure and water management alter natural hydrological pathways in developed watersheds, which can violate assumptions of a watershed approach to ecosystem science. We focus on two aspects of urban landscapes that often create challenges to model watershed processes within and among urban areas: (1) accurate delineation of urban flow paths and (2) consistent characterisation of the urban landscape within and among cities. Here, we describe these challenges and identify how certain components of these challenges can be addressed, highlighting examples and lessons learned in a project that is assessing scales and drivers of variability in dissolved organic carbon across five urban centres in the United States. Our goal is to facilitate a dialogue that will advance the applications of watershed approaches in urban ecosystem science by recognising and addressing these challenges. Our examples focus on the United States but could be applicable to similar urban challenges in other locations globally.

Rights

This work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.

Description

This is the final published PDF. This is a government document and no copyright attaches.

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70221

DOI

10.1002/hyp.70221

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44040

Publisher

Wiley

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