N. N. Arbab et al.
10.4236/jwarp.2019.114027 451 Journal of Water Resource and Protection
the Highlands, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain. Each of these regions has distinct
geologic and soil characteristics. These characteristics affect soil drainage, sur-
face water runoff, ground water recharge, and land use/cover development pat-
terns throughout the Basin. The Raritan River Basin is a 1105 square mile drai-
nage area and serves as an important source of drinking water for the central
portion of New Jersey. Municipalities within the Raritan River Basin have been
developing at a rapid pace, increasing the amount of impervious surface, reduc-
ing riverine buffers, and increasing storm water loads in rivers and streams
which makes this a study system recognizable across the globe. Three sub wa-
tersheds as shown in
Figure 1 were selected for analysis within the Raritan Ba-
sin: Bound Brook (Highly Urbanized), Lamington River (Mostly Forested), and
Lawrence Brook (Moderately Urbanized and Forested).
2.2. Input Data for ArcSWAT
All the spatial input files including raster and polygon files are projected in
NAD_1983_StatePlane_New_Jersey_FIPS_2900_Feet and 1:250,000 scale format
is used.
DEM
DEM data for 100 m, 30 m, and 10 m are collected for each watershed in the
study area to compare runoff results for each grid size. 100 m and 30m data are
collected from National Elevation Dataset (NED) of U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) and 10 meter is collected from New Jersey Department of Environmen-
tal Protection (NJDEP).
Land use
/
cover
Figure 1. Land use/cover for the Raritan River watershed, New Jersey, 2012. Source: NJ
Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), 2012.