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EPA held a Tools Cafe in December 2015 for our regional and state partners from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, tribes, and other communities. Below is information on the tools that were featured.

Aerial Emissions Sampling
An aerostat (balloon) lofted instrument array was developed in order to determine emission factors from open burning of explosives, prescribed forest fires, agriculture residue fires, landfill waste burns and lagoons. This novel sampling technology provides a safe method for characterizing emissions from sources that are not amenable to ground-based measurements.
Contact: Brian Gullett
Poster: Aerial and Ground Measurements of Emissions from Agricultural and Forest Burns (PDF)(1 pg, 5 MB, December 2015)

Air Sensor Citizen Science Toolbox: A Collaboration in Community Air Quality Monitoring and Mapping
EPA’s Air Sensor Toolbox provides information and guidance on new low-cost compact technologies for measuring air quality. Since citizens are interested in learning more about local air quality where they live, work and play, EPA scientists created the Toolbox to provide citizens resources to effectively collect, analyze, interpret and communicate air quality data.
Contact: Gayle Hagler
Poster: EPA’s Air Sensor Toolbox for Citizen Scientists (PDF)(1 pg, 2 MB, December 2015)

AQUATOX: Linking Water Quality and Aquatic Life
AQUATOX is a simulation model for aquatic systems. AQUATOX predicts the fate of various pollutants, such as nutrients and organic chemicals, and their effects on the ecosystem, including fish, invertebrates and aquatic plants. This model is a valuable tool for ecologists, biologists, water quality modelers and anyone involved in performing ecological risk assessments for aquatic ecosystems.
Contact: Brenda Rashleigh
​Poster: AQUATOX: A Tool for Integrated Modeling of Water Quality and Aquatic Life (PDF)(1 pg, 804 K, December 2015)

Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS)
CADDIS is a website that provides a step-by-step guide for identifying probable causes of biological impairment. It provides information on common stressors such as physical habitat, nutrients, metals, pH, toxics and temperature. Recent investigations using CADDIS include fish kills in the Susquehanna River and California watersheds affected by agriculture, forestry and urbanization.
Contact: Sue Norton
​Poster: CADDIS: Helping States and Tribes identify targets for management action (PDF)(1 pg, 754 K, December 2015)

EnviroAtlas
EnviroAtlas is an online decision support tool that states, communities and citizens can use to help inform policy and planning decisions impacting the places we live, learn, work and play. EnviroAtlas also provides a valuable resource for educators and researchers, combining maps, analysis tools, fact sheets and downloadable data into an easy-to-use, web-based resource.
Contact: Anne Neale
​Poster: EnviroAtlas: Connecting Ecosystems, People, and Well-being (PDF)(1 pg, 2 MB, December 2015)

Green Infrastructure Wizard (GIWiz)
GIWiz is an interactive web-based wizard that helps community decision makers navigate EPA’s green infrastructure (GI) and stormwater decision tools and resources. It offers intuitive and streamlined pathways to appropriate resources based on parameters such as user roles, cost criteria and decision objectives. GIWiz bridges the gap between the scientific knowledge contained within our GI tools and the institutional knowledge about where those tools are located and what they are for. Currently available for beta testing.
Contact: Michael Nye
​Poster: GI Wizard: An interactive web application that connects community users to EPA’s Green Infrastructure Tools and Resources (PDF)(1 pg, 842 K, December 2015)

Incident Waste Decision Support Tool (I-Waste)
I-WASTE is an online decision support tool intended for decision makers at the state and local, tribal and federal level, as well as the private sector, to aid in managing wastes generated from a variety of incidents ranging from natural disasters to chemical, biological or radiological incidents to foreign animal disease outbreaks. I-WASTE has information related to potential treatment and disposal facilities, calculators for estimating the amount of waste that is generated from different types of incidents, and a library of relevant guidance documents from many sources.
Contact: Susan Thorneloe
​Poster: I-WASTE: EPA’s Suite of Homeland Security Decision Support Tools for Waste and Disaster Debris Management and Disposal (PDF)(1 pg, 633 K, December 2015)

N-Sink
N-Sink is a web-based tool that uses the best available biogeochemical data and nationally available land cover to estimate nitrogen retention along water flow paths within a hydrologic unit code (HUC-12) watershed. The approach can help states by generating heat maps of susceptibility and sensitivity to nitrogen deposition within a watershed that is highly valued by decision-makers. Two watershed case studies are available as examples, online and in an EPA report. EPA is working with the University of Connecticut and University of Rhode Island to apply the tool to multiple watersheds in EPA Region 1 (New England) to help support decision making. The tool is in development and efforts are underway to expand the tool nationally.
Contact: Ken Forshay
​Poster: N-Sink: A decision support tool under development with EPA (PDF)(1 pg, 2 MB, December 2015)
Fact Sheet: Development of a Tool to Identify Nitrogen Sources and Sinks within a Watershed Framework (2 pp, 565 K, About PDF)

Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST)
WMOST is an application designed to support implementation of integrated watershed management (IWM) in the most cost-effective manner. IWM includes stormwater, drinking water, wastewater and land conservation management practices. WMOST Version 1 focuses on management of base flow. Version 2 released in September 2015 includes a flooding module to assess costs associated with peak flows. Version 3, expected to be released by the spring of 2015, will include a nutrients module.
Contact: Naomi Detenbeck
Poster: Watershed Management Optimization Support Tool (WMOST) v. 2 Integrated Water Management for Communities and Planning Authorities (PDF)(1 pg, 3 MB, December 2015)

Additional Poster The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Modeling System (PDF)(1 pg, 2 MB, December 2015)