Best management practices (BMPs) are being
implemented to reduce nonpoint sources pollution in China
and worldwide. The effectiveness of individual BMPs is
usually assessed through controlled experiments. Field evaluation
of the effectiveness of a great majority of BMPs is
limited by cost of implementation, site-specific response, and
length of time needed to document reliable response. Nonpoint
source pollution (NPS) models are increasingly relied
upon to estimate water quality response to BMP implementation.
This study has developed and tested a tool for estimating
the effectiveness of BMPs in controlling NPS
pollution by collecting and analyzing existing data from previous
studies. It includes 60 BMPs grouped into six classes.
Data from combined soil and slope analyses were used to
design a BMP effectiveness estimator driven by hydrologic
soil groups and slope classes using Visual Basic for Applications
and Structured Query Language. This tool includes
five primary functions, namely: (1) effectiveness assessment
for single or combined BMP, (2) statistical analyses for BMP
effectiveness; (3) informational inquiry about individual
BMPs; (4) updating and editing the BMPs database; and (5)
external expansion as new information becomes available.
The tool was tested and validated for BMPs selection in a