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<br />-6- <br /> <br />very different hydrologic responses to urbanization might be anticipated <br /> <br /> <br />because of its many unique features inherited from recent glaciation. <br /> <br />Research Objectives and Overview <br />As part of a Metropolitan Landscape Assessment Model OMETLAND) under <br />development at the University of Massachusetts, a study by Cole and <br />others (1974) demonstrated marked changes in flood expectancy for a small <br />watershed located in the MET LAND study towns of Burlington, Wilmington <br />and Tewksbury, Massachusetts. This provided the impetus for a pilot <br />study to look for similar effects of urbanization elsewhere in the Boston <br />metropolitan area, and to investigate potential ways in which this dyna- <br />mic element of urban hydrology could be modelled for predictive purposes. <br />Hydrologic analyses of 26 basins revealed that dramatic changes in flood <br />expectancy were indeed common in this region where extensive urban growth <br /> <br />had occurred. Furthermore, detailed study of a representative sample of <br /> <br /> <br />five watersheds produced a tentative model for predicting this response <br /> <br /> <br />(Doehring and others, 1975). <br /> <br /> <br />This paper is concerned with the culmination of that initial study. <br /> <br /> <br />The overall objectives which have directed the course of this research <br /> <br /> <br />are <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />(1) to identify the significant variables which influence runoff <br /> <br /> <br />characteristics of watersheds in southeastern New England; <br /> <br /> <br />(2) to evaluate the importance of these variables, singly and in <br /> <br /> <br />combination, on the dynamic response of these watersheds in <br /> <br /> <br />order to develop a predictive model relating urbanization and <br /> <br /> <br />flood expectancy; and <br /> <br /> <br />(3) ultimately to develop a methodology which can be used by <br /> <br />. <br />