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2.3 About SWAT+

Over the past 20 years, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has become widely used across the globe. The large numbers of applications across the globe have also revealed limitations and identified model development needs. Numerous additions and modifications of the model and its individual components have made the code increasingly difficult to manage and maintain. In order to face present and future challenges in water resources modeling SWAT code has undergone major modifications over the past few years, resulting in SWAT+, a completely revised version of the model.

Even though the basic algorithms used to calculate the processes in the model have not changed, the structure and organization of both the code (object based) and the input files (relational based) have undergone considerable modification. This is expected to facilitate model maintenance, future code modifications, and foster collaboration with other researchers to integrate new science into SWAT modules. SWAT+ provides a more flexible spatial representation of interactions and processes within a watershed.

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool Plus (SWAT+) is a public domain model jointly developed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, part of The Texas A&M University System. SWAT+ is a small watershed to river basin-scale model to simulate the quality and quantity of surface and ground water and predict the environmental impact of land use, land management practices, and climate change. SWAT is widely used in assessing soil erosion prevention and control, non-point source pollution control and regional management in watersheds.

Installation

1. Install QGIS 3.28

There is a problem with versions of QGIS after 3.22 and before 3.28.13 that causes errors in QSWAT+. Please make sure you do not use such a version.

If you plan to use QSWAT+ to set up your watershed, please install QGIS 3 before installing SWAT+. It can be downloaded from the , where you should select the Long term release repository, and the 64 bit standalone installer. Version 3.28 is recommended. Use the default folder C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.28.n as the installation folder. See the for further instructions.

MacOS and Linux only: users will need to install openmpi separately.
- MacOS: run brew install openmpi from a terminal.
- Linux Ubuntu: run sudo apt-get install openmpi-bin from a terminal. Package name may vary with distribution.

2. SWAT+ 2.3 Installer

If you have a version of SWAT+ Editor earlier than 2.3.1, we recommend updating due to an issue in aquifer routing that would affect your model's hydrology. See the for details.

This release includes SWAT+ rev. 60.5.7, QSWAT+ 2.4, SWAT+ Editor 2.3, and SWAT+ Toolbox 1.0.5 (Windows only). To install the SWAT+ model and interface components, please use an installer linked below for your operating system. The installer is for 64-bit machines. Administrator privileges are not required for personal installations (but Mac requires use of sudo).

Operating System

Link

Release Date

Version

*For Linux and MacOS, the optional SSURGO/STATSGO soils and WGN databases should be downloaded from the section below as they are not included in the installers. See detailed installation instructions for Linux and MacOS .

Existing SWAT+ users should be sure to read the thoroughly to see how the software updates affect your projects.

Trouble loading the software after installation? Read through our troubleshooting guide.

Individual Component Installation

If you need to install QSWAT+ or SWAT+ Editor individually, grab the latest release of their respective installers from their source code repository downloads page.

SWAT+ Model (Command Line Executable)

The model itself is packaged with SWAT+ Editor and we recommend using the editor to modify your inputs and run the model. However, if you would like to download just the command line executable file, it is available below.

SWAT+ SQLite Datasets

On Windows we recommend using the SWAT+ Tools installer above for installing the SWAT+ datasets databases to their proper locations. However, for Linux and MacOS, or if you need to access these components individually, they are linked below:

These files should be placed in SWATPlus/Databases

Previous Versions

Getting Started

Download a sample project and watch the guide video to get started with QSWAT+ and SWAT+ Editor

What you'll need

Make sure you have downloaded and installed QSWAT+, SWAT+ wgn and soils databases, and SWAT+ Editor as described in the installation section linked below.

The following guide will show you how to get started with SWAT+ Editor. This guide does not cover how to set up your watershed in QSWAT+. Please refer to the QSWAT+ manual for this step.

Demo project files

Please use the following Robit demo project, which has already been set up in QSWAT+. Alternatively, you may use the Robit project you set up on your own after following the steps in the QSWAT+ manual.

Watch the SWAT+ Editor guide video

Please watch the guide video before launching SWAT+ Editor. This video will quickly walk you through the steps needed to bring your QSWAT+ project into the editor, as well as show you how to catch and report errors. If you prefer a written guide instead of or in addition to the video, a walk through is shown below.

Walk through guide for SWAT+ Editor

If you do not want to watch a video, follow the steps below. This guide shows the basic steps you need to take to set up your model, but does not cover all input parameters available through the editor. Please refer to the SWAT+ Editor documentation section for help editing specific input parameters.

Set up your project in QSWAT+

Follow the QSWAT+ manual to set up your watershed. To open SWAT+ Editor from within QSWAT+, click the button for Step 3: Edit Inputs and Run SWAT.

Open your project in the editor

The first time your open your QSWAT+ project in SWAT+ Editor, your data must be imported from the GIS tables into SWAT+ database format. This may take a few seconds to several minutes depending on the size of your watershed.

When your GIS data is done loading, your project will be displayed in the center. Click the get started button at the bottom to begin editing your inputs.

Edit SWAT+ inputs

The first step you should take is to add weather generator (WGN) data. It may be imported from the distributed WGN database in the SWAT+ Tools installer, or from CSV files. Go to the weather generator section and click the import data button as shown in the screenshot below.

The database import option is selected by default, with the global CSFR weather generator table chosen. Click in the box to see other table options. wgn_us is weather generator data for the United States. wgn is an empty table you may populate with your own data if desired.

Alternatively, select CSV files from the top pull-down menu. In the Robit demo dataset, we have provided CSV files to use for weather generators, located in the Wgn folder of the sample project linked at the top of this page. Select these files in the editor as shown in the screenshot below, check the box to use observed weather data, then click the start import button.

You should now see one weather generator station added. Next, we need to add observed weather data. From the left menu in the editor, click the Weather Stations link.

Click the import data button to import your files. In the Robit demo dataset, we have provided weather data in SWAT2012 format in the Weather directory. Select this folder as the SWAT2012 weather files directory in the editor's import form. You may also choose where to save the files when they are converted to SWAT+ format. By default, your TxtInOut folder is selected. Click the start button to continue.

You should now see one weather station added. You can click on the name of the files to open them directly from the editor. You'll see this station is automatically connected to the weather generator created in the last step. This weather station is also connected to all of your spatial connection objects during import. In projects where you have more than one station, it is automatically assigned by closest latitude/longitude.

This concludes the last required section for editing SWAT+ inputs before writing files and running the model. The remaining sections are not covered in this walk-through, however you can look through the SWAT+ Editor Documentation section for more information.

In this demo, we'll go ahead and proceed to the next step. From the navy ribbon on the left side of the editor, click on the play/triangle icon.

You will see three sections up top to adjust your simulation settings if desired. Your input files will be saved to [Project Directory]/Scenarios/Default/TxtInOut by default. Click on "Set your simulation period" to adjust your starting and ending simulation dates.

When you click on a date picker, please note that you may use the arrows at the top of the date picker to move between decades and years. For this demo, set the ending simulation date to December 31, 2000. Use the arrows to find the year 2000, then click on the 31 in December to confirm the new date.

Click on the next section: choose output to print. Adjust your warm-up period to 3 years. Scroll to see all the available outputs to print. Use the top row of check boxes to select all yearly and average annual outputs.

Scroll down, or click on "choose output to print" again to collapse the section. Now you will see three checkboxes of tasks: write inputs, run the model, and analyze output.

Here is a brief description of each task:

Write input files Translate your data saved from the edit inputs section in your project SQLite database to text files read by SWAT+. Any time you make edits, be sure to keep this box checked to re-write your files.
Run SWAT+ Execute a compiled version of the model.
Analyze output for visualization Read the output text files generated by the model into a SQLite database used for SWAT+ check and the QSWAT+ visualization tool

For this demo, and because it is our first time running the simulation, keep all three boxes checked. Click the "Save Settings & Run Selected" button to continue. When the tasks complete, you'll be presented with a menu of options for what to do next.

You may click to run SWAT+ Check to check for potential model problems. You may also save your scenario, which will make a copy of all of your inputs and outputs. After saving completes, any additional changes made to your project will not affect the saved scenario. You may load the saved scenario back to the editor from the project setup screen.

This concludes the introductory walk-through of SWAT+ Editor. You may close the editor by clicking the "Exit SWAT+ Editor" button from the interface, or by clicking the X in the top right of the editor window, or by going to File->Exit from the editor's menu.

After exiting the editor, you may proceed to QSWAT+ step 4: visualization. Please refer to the QSWAT+ manual for more information about this process.

Get Help

Documentation is available in the next section of this website, however please make use of our user groups if you get stuck or run into an issue.

User Groups

Because there are distinct pieces to SWAT+, we have created user groups for each. Please identify which area you are having difficulty with and choose the appropriate group:

For issues defining your watershed in QGIS and using the QSWAT+ plugin.

For issues related to the editor interface.

For questions and discussion related to the model itself, not the editor or GIS interfaces.

SWAT+ Toolbox

SWAT+ Toolbox is designed to work with the SWAT+ model. You can use it for sensitivity analysis, model calibration, evaluation, and validation. The software is currently only available on Windows. There are built-in updates through which more features, functionalities and bug fixes will be delivered. Check for updates as soon as you install. Check the user documentation .

SWAT+ Editor Bug/Issue Reporting

For SWAT+ Editor bugs or technical issues, report to the user groups or the . However, please use this only for Editor software problems, and continue to use the google group for data-related issues.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Before contacting support, please read through our list of common issues to see if there is a simple solution already posted.

Troubleshooting

Some common issues installing and loading our tools are listed below, organized by software component. Please check through these common scenarios before contacting support.

Bug Fixes / Software Updates

First, check to make sure you have the most recent version of the tools installed. Minor bug fixes may be fixed and updated in the component's source code repository download section.

If you are upgrading from a previous version, before installing an update, be sure to close SWAT+ Editor, QSWAT+, and QGIS. If you have trouble opening the software, or loading your existing projects in SWAT+ Editor, open the task manager and verify no instances of swatplus_rest_api.exe are running. If they are, right-click and end the task, and reinstall.

QSWAT+

Loading the QSWAT+ plugin

Please note that on Windows, the minimum QGIS version allowed is 3.16.14, however we strongly recommend using version 3.22.

For most users, the QSWAT+ plugin should appear automatically in your QGIS toolbar after install. If it does not, click on the Plugins menu, then verify it is listed and checked in your list of installed plugins. If not, check the QGIS messages by clicking the thought bubble icon in the lower right corner of the screen. Click the QSWAT+ tab and copy and paste the messages in a new post in the . If there is no QSWAT+ tab, check the other tabs for information.

Landuse WETW is not defined

This can happen when opening an existing project. If you are using the standard SWAT+ plant table, use the plant pull-down menu in the Create HRUs form, select Use CSV file, and load SWATPlus/Databases/plant.csv.

I received an error setting up my watershed in QSWAT+

SWAT+ Editor

Blank screen or error upon opening

If you receive an error message similar to the image below, or you see a loading spinner for a minute followed by a message that the editor did not load correctly, it's possible that your installation didn't work properly.

Verify the files located in your SWATPlus installation folder, SWATPlus/SWATPlusEditor/resources/app.asar.unpacked/static. The contents should be as described below:

api_dist
- swatplus_api.exe
- swatplus_rest_api.exe
swat_exe
- There should be several executable files matching the current model revision number, e.g., rev60.5.7_64rel.exe
appsettings.json
swatplus_vardefs.sqlite

If any or all of the files above are missing, your installation did not complete successfully. You might try disabling your antivirus and installing again.

Unable to get project information from database

If you receive this message when you first launch your project in the editor, it is a sign the editor did not load its services correctly.

Click the question mark icon in the lower left corner to open the help page. Scroll to the bottom and looking for the "Troubleshooting" section. If you see a message stating "Unable to connect to SWAT+ API", please try the following steps before contacting support:

Open a command prompt window. Make sure you are in the drive where you installed SWAT+. Browse to the location below, then run the swatplus_rest_api.exe file.

If it is working properly, you should receive something similar to the following:

If this is what you received, please simply close SWAT+ Editor and try launching it again.

If you get no message on the screen at all, it might be a permission error or problem related to your computer settings. Try installing to another location on your machine, such as another hard drive, or even install to a flash drive. If this still does not work, try another machine.

After install, go to where you installed the editor and open the appsettings.json file located in the resources/app.asar.unpacked/static directory. Set your python PATH variable in the appropriate section of the file.

Problems updating a project from a previous version

When loading your projects from a previous version of the editor, the project should open right away and show a screen similar to the following:

If you do NOT see the above screen and instead your see a loading spinner for a minute followed by a message that the editor did not load correctly, it's possible that your update didn't work properly. Verify the date of the two files located in your SWAT+ installation folder, SWATPlus/SWATPlusEditor/resources/app.asar.unpacked/static/api_dist.

If either file has a date earlier than the release date of the editor, they did not get updated during installation. Please uninstall SWAT+ entirely, manually delete the SWATPlus folder, and install everything again.

Other SWAT+ Editor errors

SWAT+ Model

Linux and MacOS

The Linux release was tested on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, and MacOS was tested on Ventura. Please let us know if you test on a different OS version or Linux distribution and have any issues.

Installation

Linux

Your Linux distribution may have a QGIS package as part of its standard collection. Provided it is QGIS 3.16 version or later (not QGIS 2) you will be OK using it, and you can use the standard package management system to install it. The instructions that follow here are an alternative for obtaining the latest long term release of QGIS, currently 3.28.

Start by going to the QGIS download page and selecting Linux. Follow the instructions for your distribution. Note the instructions on the QGIS page include installing qgis-plugin-grass, but this is not necessary for QSWAT+, i.e. the install command needed is merely sudo apt install qgis (though Ubuntu seemed to install GRASS anyway).

Install QSWAT+ using the swatplus-linux-installer from the installation page. This takes the form of a compressed tar archive. Save it somewhere, open a terminal and cd to the directory it is saved in. Use the command tar -xvf swatplus-linux-installer.tgz to unpack the tar file. You then decide whether to install it just for you, or for everyone. In the first case it will only be available to the user who installs it. In the second case it will be available to any user, but will require the root user password to install. To take the first option, use the command ./installforme.sh and to take the second option use the command sudo ./installforall.sh This will install the QSWAT+ plugin for QGIS, in the user's personal files with the first option, and within the QGIS installation with the second option. It also installs the SWAT+ Editor and other tools and data in the SWATPlus directory. With the first option, SWATPlus is ~/.local/share/SWATPlus (where ~ is the user's home directory) and with the second option it is /usr/local/share/SWATPlus. There are also shell scripts uninstallforme.sh and unistallforall.sh for uninstalling.

The TauDEM executables used for watershed delineation by QSWAT+ can run in multiprocessing mode, using MPI (Message Passing Interface). Unfortunately, they need MPI to be installed even if the user chooses not to use MPI. The usual version of MPI for Linux is openmpi, and in Ubuntu, for example, running the command sudo apt-get install openmpi-bin in a terminal will install openmpi or tell you it is already installed.

Mac

Obtain QGIS from the download page, selecting Download for macOS and then QGIS 3.28 LTR, the one described as the most stable version. This will give you a .dmg file, Open it, agree to the license, and you get a small window with a QGIS symbol and an Applications symbol. Drag the QGIS symbol onto the Applications symbol. This places QGIS in your Applications folder, and takes a few minutes. When you open QGIS in MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) you get a response that it cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software. Click the Show in Finder button, and then instead of left clicking on QGIS, right click (or hold Ctrl while you click) on QGIS and then choose Open. The same warning about malicious software appears, but this time there is an Open button that you click to start QGIS. Thereafter QGIS will open normally.

The TauDEM software used to do watershed delineation in QSWAT+ is linked dynamically to openmpi, so this needs to be installed. This is most easily achieved by running in a terminal the command sudo brew install openmpi

The instructions new vary according to whether you have a Mac with an Intel processor or an Arm processor (also called M1 or M2)

For an Intel processor

Install QSWAT+ using the swatplus-mac-installer from the installation page. This takes the form of a compressed tar archive. Save it somewhere, open a terminal and cd to the directory it is saved in. Use the command tar -xvf swatplus-mac-installer.tgz to unpack the tar file. cd to swatplus-mac-installer and use the command sudo ./installforme.sh to install for just the user doing the installation. This needs sudo because it fixes a problem in the QGIS installation to properly link some gdalplugins library files. This will install the QSWAT+ plugin for QGIS, under the user's home directory. It also installs the SWAT+ Editor and other tools and data in the ~/SWATPlus directory (where ~ is the user's home directory). It is also possible to install for all users, with the command sudo ./installforall.sh This installs the QSWAT+ plugin within the QGIS installation, and makes the QSWATPlus directory /usr/local/share/SWATPlus. There are also shell scripts uninstallforme.sh and uninstallforall.sh for uninstalling.

For an Arm processor

Install QSWAT+ using the swatplus-mac-arm -installer from the installation page. This takes the form of a compressed tar archive. Save it somewhere, open a terminal and cd to the directory it is saved in. Use the command tar -xvf swatplus-mac-arm-installer.tgz to unpack the tar file. cd to swatplus-mac-arm-installer and use the command ./installforme.sh to install for just the user doing the installation. This will install the QSWAT+ plugin for QGIS, under the user's home.directory. It also installs the SWAT+ Editor and other tools and data in the ~/SWATPlus directory (where ~ is the user's home directory). It is also possible to install for all users, with the command sudo ./installforall.sh This installs the QSWAT+ plugin within the QGIS installation, and makes the QSWATPlus directory /usr/local/share/SWATPlus. There are also shell scripts uninstallforme.sh and uninstallforall.sh for uninstalling.

There are some extra libraries needed for Arm machines. You need to run the following in a terminal:

sudo brew install gdal
sudo brew install hwloc
sudo brew install libevent

Known Issues

SWAT+ Model on MacOS

Be sure to update to the version 2.3 or later of SWAT+ Editor for MacOS. In version 2.2 and earlier you might receive an error while trying to run the model stating it can't find the library libiomp5. We have packaged this with the latest 2.3 SWAT+ Editor install.

You may also run the model outside the editor by downloading the executables from the Installation page and following the instructions in the read-me file.

SWAT+ Editor on Debian 10: SUID Sandbox

You may receive an error trying to launch SWAT+ Editor on Debian or other non-Ubuntu Linux distributions:

The SUID sandbox helper binary was found, but it is not configured correctly.

If so, please try the following.

Find your installation location. If you did install for me, it is:

cd ~/.local/share/SWATPlus/SWATPlusEditor

If you selected install for all, it is:

cd /usr/local/share/SWATPlus/SWATPlusEditor

From the install directory, type the following commands:

sudo chown root chrome-sandbox
sudo chmod 4755 chrome-sandbox

You should now be able to launch the editor without error.

Release Notes

SWAT+ revision 60.5.7

Download the revision notes for the model below.

QSWAT+ revision 2.5

The latest long term release of QGIS (currently 3.34.6) uses Python 3.12 instead of 3.9. The change to Python requires a change to QSWAT+, and the latest installer is named QSWATPlus3_12. You can download it from Github.

There are no significant changes to QSWAT+ itself, so there is no urgency to change your current version of QGIS and QSWATPlus3_9.

QSWAT+ revision 2.4

The latest long term release of QGIS is version 3.28. For Windows, the standalone installer we recommend comes as an MSI installer. Some users may be aware of the older .exe installers, for which the last version is 3.16. It is possible to use the latest version 2.4 of QSWAT+ with a .exe installer of QGIS but you need to download, for example, QSWATPlus3_64install2.4.1.exe from the Bitbucket repository. The QSWAT+ installers for .exe versions of QGIS have 3_64 in their names. The QSWAT+ installers for MSI versions of QGIS have 3_9 in their names. The two are incompatible because QGIS has changed Python versions in the MSI installers.

If you already have a project under development it is generally not a good idea to switch to new versions of software, but if you do move to the latest version you will need to update the plant table in your project database. The easy way to do this is to use the 'Use csv' option for the plant database, and select SWATPlus/Databases/plant.csv as the csv file. This will create and select a new table plant0 in your project database, and this will automatically be the default for the project in future. If you forget to do this you are likely when you read the landuse and soil files to get an error that the landuse WETW is not defined. To recover, just choose the csv option as above and then click Read again.

SWAT+ Editor revision 2.3

2.3.3

Bug fix related to num_steps column in weir_res that should have been deleted.

2.3.2

Bug fix when creating a new project without QGIS: invalid reference to path join.

2.3.1

Fixed long-standing issue regarding aquifer routing. The editor was routing from aquifer to downstream channel (following through a PT in gis_routing and to the downstream channel or reservoir). Instead, we needed to take the channel/reservoir associated with the PT the aquifer routes to. So in gis_routing instead of AQU->PT->CH/RES, it should be AQU->CH/RES where CH/RES is found from AQU->PT and CH/RES->PT.
- To update your project, please first make a complete backup of your project folder. Then, from within the editor on the main screen, click the "Re-import from GIS" button.

2.3

SWAT+ model updated to revision 60.5.7; see model revision notes for input/output changes
swatplus_datasets.sqlite updated to version 2.3
Due to the change to plants.plt, if you're updating an existing project, consider reloading your plants database with the new data through the interface. Download the plants CSV file from plus.swat.tamu.edu (browse to version 2.3), and from SWAT+ Editor go to Edit -> Databases -> Plants, click the Import button, then select the Import tab and downloaded CSV file.
Added basic interface for building water allocation tables. Water allocation tables are very specific to the watershed and new feature in SWAT+. We recommend working with the model development team if you are unsure. Because this is a new addition, the interface is still limited if you're trying to build a large table with many source and demand objects.
Bug fix in SWAT+ Check - urban codes now displayed in the Land Use Summary section

2.2.2

Bug fix for error received when enabling constituents and saving

2.2.1

Bug fix for creating new atmospheric deposition station
Bug fix when saving and loading scenarios

2.2.0

Added interface for atmospheric deposition
Added a delete all button to weather stations and weather generator pages
HRU/Hydrology/EPCO default now set to 0.5
Added button to project setup page to re-import from GIS and switch between full SWAT+ and SWAT+ lte
Added a link to SWAT+ Toolbox (Windows only; minimum version 1.0.1)

View the full revision notes history.

Source Code

Repository Links

SWAT+ Model Compile Help

The model is written in Fortran and the distributions on this website were compiled using the . This is now freely available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. First, download and install the . Then download and install the .

For Windows, we also use Visual Studio. Download the file below for settings configuration.

For Linux and MacOS, we currently just use the command line. First, you need to set your Intel environment. Find your installation directory and source setvars.sh.

Linux example:

Or for all users:

MacOS example:

Next, we use the following script to compile the model. Please note: occasionally some extra files get included in the source code repository. If you notice this, it is safe to remove them.

The -static flag in the last line is NOT available on MacOS. Instead, you should link the LAPACK and BLAS libraries and as of macOS Monterey change your library path. The last line should be:

We are new to compiling in Linux and MacOS, so suggestions are more than welcome.

SWAT+ Editor Compile Help

From /src/api run the following depending on your OS:
- Windows: python-build-windows
- Linux: sh python-build-linux.sh
- MacOS: sh python-build-mac.sh
From the root of the source code directory run the following depending on your OS:
- Windows: npm run build:win
- Linux: npm run build:linux
- MacOS: npm run build:mac
Program will be in /release/dist

User Docs

SWAT+ Editor Documentation

Project Setup

When you open SWAT+ Editor, you are taken to the project setup screen. If you are coming from QSWAT+, an overlay will appear with the option to change your project display name and optionally use the lite version of the mode: SWAT+ lte.

When your project is done importing from GIS, it will be selected as your current project and displayed in the recent projects sidebar on the left as well as in the center screen.

From here you can start editing your SWAT+ inputs by clicking the "Get started" button at the bottom, or by clicking the pencil icon in the far left blue-colored menu.

SWAT+ lte

SWAT+ lte is a version of the SWAT+ model that greatly simplifies hydrology and plant growth and does not simulate nutrients, concentrating on gully formation and stream degradation. It only uses channel and HRU objects.

Using the editor without GIS

If you are not coming from QSWAT+, you may open the editor and create a new project from scratch. A project database will be created for you and you will need to input your spatial connections and all other data manually.

Edit SWAT+ Inputs

Click the pencil icon in the leftmost blue toolbar to enter the editing section. Most editors in this section are a literal representation of the SWAT+ input files. The collapsible dark-gray headings on the left correspond to the section lines in the master watershed file (file.cio).

When you click on an editor section from the left menu, you'll find the default SWAT+ file name with which the section corresponds. This enables you to quickly look up further information in the SWAT+ input/output documentation.

Navigating the Editor

Most data is presented in a tabular format. When you click a row, you're presented with a form where you can make changes and save. The following features are common across many editor sections.

Tables

Sort by a column in the table by clicking on the heading name. It will toggle ascending or descending direction as indicated by the arrows next to the name.

Tables with many records can be scrolled and then paged by clicking the page number or arrow links at the bottom of the table.

Each row may contain an edit/view icon on the far left to access the data in the row, and a delete icon on the far right (may need to scroll to access the far right of the table). We do not recommend deleting rows unless you are absolutely sure they are not used elsewhere in your model. Due to the relationships of data in SWAT+, deleting records could have unintended effects and break your model. Deleting cannot be undone; if in doubt, make a backup of your project SQLite database first.

In the search box up top, start typing the name of the objects you want to find. Matching options will appear in the table. Remove the text from the search box to remove the filter.

In the action bar at the bottom, click create new record to add an item to the table. The import/export data button allows you to quickly access your data in CSV (comma-separated values spreadsheet) format, in most cases. We recommend exporting your data (or empty table is okay) first to get a template with the column names. You may then modify the file and import it back into the editor.

Editing Form

Most objects in SWAT+ have a name field and are identified using this name. Names should be unique and not contain spaces (spaces will be automatically converted to underscores).

Each edit form will have a save changes button at the bottom. Be sure to click this button after making any changes and before leaving the form.

Press the back button to return to the previous screen. Click copy to make a copy of the current object you are viewing. You will be asked to give the copied object a unique name. Note: the copy function is not available for all object types, including connection objects.

Look-up Fields

There are a lot of relationships between objects in SWAT+. For example, all fields in your channel properties table link to rows in other tables. In SWAT+ Editor forms, you can easily select these related rows by starting to type an object's name and select it as it pops up. If you accidentally enter an incorrect name, the editor will return an error stating the record does not exist in your database.

Bulk Editing

If you want to apply changes to a field for multiple objects at once, you can use bulk edit mode. Select one object from the table as your base. This can be useful if you want to use its values to apply across many other objects, but if you're using entirely new values, it does not matter which object you select.

From the object's edit form page, click the arrow on the right side of the save changes button and then click "Make changes to multiple records..." to enter bulk edit mode.

First, select the objects to which you want to make changes. Note that the object you're currently viewing is not selected by default. For most sections, you can filter your selection by subbasin first. If you're editing an HRU-level objects, you can also filter by landuse. In the above example, we checked Subbasin 1, which then populated the next list with channels that fall into Subbasin 1. All are selected by default, but you can uncheck as needed.

Next, choose which fields you want to edit by clicking the check box to the left of the field. In the above example, we checked the box for Manning's n. Enter the value you want and click Save Bulk Changes. Manning's n will be updated to your new value for each selected channel.

Getting Started with Your Data

We recommend starting in the climate section, and importing your weather generators and observed weather data. If you're coming from GIS, when you import weather generators or observed data, it will create weather stations and match them to your spatial objects automatically.

Climate

Weather generator data and weather stations are required for SWAT+ to run.

SWAT+ Documentation

Weather Stations

Weather stations are linked from all of your connection objects (channels, HRUs, etc.) in SWAT+. If you are coming from QSWAT+, it is much better to import stations either from the weather generator section, or the observed weather file importer than it is to create them manually.

By importing through one of the methods described below, your new stations will be automatically matched your spatial connection objects.

Import Weather Generator Data

Click the import data button to import weather generator (wgn) data for your project. If you installed the SWAT+ databases, this file will be selected by default along with the CFSR world table. USA wgn data is also available from this database; type wgn_us to use this table.

You may also add your own data to this database using the wgn and corresponding wgn_mon tables.

Below the table name field is a check box asking if you are using observed weather data. By default (unchecked), when you click start import, weather stations will be created based on your wgn locations. If you are using observed weather data and prefer to have weather stations created based on this data, check this box--stations will not be created when you start import, and instead they will be created for you when you import your observed weather data files.

If you are not using observed weather data, it is important to leave the box unchecked so that weather stations are created for you.

CSV Import

If you do not want to use the SQLite database, you may import CSV files of your weather generator data. Two CSV files are required.

Stations CSV file:
- Columns id, name, lat, lon, elev, rain_yrs
- id should be uniquely numbered
Monthly values CSV file:
- Columns id, wgn_id, month, tmp_max_ave, tmp_min_ave, tmp_max_sd, tmp_min_sd, pcp_ave, pcp_sd, pcp_skew, wet_dry, wet_wet, pcp_days, pcp_hhr, slr_ave, dew_ave, wnd_ave
- id should be uniquely numbered
- wgn_id corresponds to the id column from the stations file

Import Observed Weather Data

Import observed weather data from the top of the weather stations section. The data files may be in one of two formats: SWAT2012/Global Weather Data CFSR website format, or SWAT+.

After importing observed weather data, be sure to modify your simulation run time to match your weather dates.

SWAT2012/Global Weather Websites Format

Each measurement included in your data must have the following entry file names:

Each entry file is a comma-separated list of stations. Each station name should have a corresponding .txt file (e.g., name p326-963 should have a p326-963.txt file).

Each station file should have the first line as the starting day as YYYYMMDD (e.g., 19790101). The following lines are the measurement for each day, one line per day. For temperature, each line will be max,min (e.g., 10.138,-2.662).

Global weather data options are available on the SWAT website.

SWAT+ Format

Each measurement included in your data must have the following entry file names:

Each entry file has a title line (any text allowed), followed by a heading line, followed by a list of filenames for each station. Filenames should be listed alphabetically.

Each station file has a title line, followed by a heading line and data line for time and location. Measurements for each timestep are in the lines to follow. For temperature, the measurements will be listed as max then min.

Weather Generator Parameters

weather_wgn_cli

weather_wgn_cli_mon

Each entry in weather_wgn_cli will have 12 rows in weather_wgn_cli_mon.

Weather Stations Parameters

weather_sta_cli

When entering an observed weather file name in the station editor, you may start typing to search for existing weather files adding during the import step. If adding observed files manually, just type the name of the file (e.g., p326953.pcp), and put that file in the directory you plan to write input files (e.g., your TxtInOut). Files must be in SWAT+ format. If your weather data is in SWAT2012 format or from the Global Weather CFSR website, please use the import step to convert them to SWAT+.

weather_file

This table is only used if you import observed weather data files. If entering stations manually, this table will not be populated.

Connections

The connections section contains all spatial object connectivity for the simulation run. In SWAT+ Editor, all connection object properties can be set through this section. For example, when you click on channels, you will see additional menu links appear for initialization, hydrology and sediment, and nutrients.

All connection objects have a similar format as seen in the above figure. Each connection object will have properties associated with it (such as initial, hydrology and sediment, and nutrients in this example) as well as a weather station. Click on these names in the table, or from the edit view page, click the button next to their names to view information about the properties object or weather station.

Each connection object may have outflow. The total number of outflow connections is shown in the right-most column of the table (note: you may need to use the horizontal scroll button at the bottom of the table if it is wide). To view the outflow objects, click the edit icon on the left of the row you want to view.

If you imported your project from GIS, your connection objects are populated automatically during project setup.

Explanation of SWAT+ Spatial Objects

Subbasin

The subbasin is defined by the DEM in the GIS interface as it always has been. All flow within the subbasin drains to the subbasin outlet.

Landscape Unit

A landscape unit (LSU) is defined as a collection of HRUs and can be defined as a subbasin, or it could be a flood plain or upland unit, or it could be a grid cell with multiple HRUs. The landscape unit is not routed, it only used for output. The landscape unit output files (waterbal, nutbal, losses, and plant weather) are output for HRUs, landscape units, and for the basin. Two input files are required: 1) landscape elements and, 2) landscape define. The elements file includes HRUs and their corresponding LSU fraction and basin fractions. The define file specifies which HRUs are contained in each LSU.

Routing Unit

A routing unit is a collection of hydrographs that can be routed to any spatial object. The routing unit can be configured as a subbasin, then total flow (surface, lateral and tile flow) from the routing unit can be sent to a channel and all recharge from the routing unit sent to an aquifer. This is analogous to the current approach in SWAT. However, SWAT+ gives us much more flexibility in configuring a routing unit. For example, in CEAP, we are routing each HRU (field) through a small channel (gully or grass waterway) before it reaches the main channel. In this case, the routing unit is a collection of flow from the small channels. We also envision simulating multiple representative hillslopes to define a routing unit. Also, we are setting up scenarios that define a routing unit using tile flow from multiple fields and sending that flow to a wetland.

The routing unit is the spatial unit SWAT+ that allows us to lump outputs and route the outputs to any other spatial object. It gives us considerably more flexibility than the old subbasin lumping approach in SWAT, and will continue to be a convenient way of spatial lumping until we can simulate individual fields or cells in each basin.