Erosion plays a critical role in soil and water resource conservation projects. The WEAP model (Water Evaluation And Planning Tool) is widely used for water planning assessments, but an erosion module was lacking so far. The new WEAP Erosion Plugin (WEP) will fill this gap.

The new plugin, referred to as WEP (WEAP Erosion Plugin) was developed by FutureWater in association with the Stockholm Environment (SEI). Peter Droogers, main developer of WEP, mentions: “WEP enables us to do a full water resources analysis including erosion assessments within one modeling tool”. Plugins are relatively new in WEAP but allow for expanding the model with new processes. The erosion plugin is currently applied in projects that FutureWater undertakes for various partners including The Nature Conservancy (TNC), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and national water resource management institutes.

The WEAP Erosion Plugin (WEP) can be freely used by each WEAP user. Johannes Hunink, director of FutureWater: “We are committed to a more sustainable future for our water resources, and make this plugin therefore available for everyone”. Jack Sieber, lead developer of WEAP at SEI, is pleased to notice that WEAP can be used now in projects and studies where erosion is an important aspect.

Interested in downloading the plugin? Follow this link. The associated report and manual can be found here.