A searchable, forkable Markdown archive of foundational Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) documentation - anchored by the SWMM4 User's Manual (Huber, Dickinson, Barnwell, Branch, 1988) converted to Markdown with 850+ citations - alongside related EPA SWMM, InfoSWMM, InfoSewer, and Extran reference material.
The goal is to make historically important stormwater modeling literature easy to read, search, link to, and cite directly from GitHub.
Much of the canonical SWMM documentation lives only as scanned PDFs or out-of-print EPA reports. This repository:
- Converts those documents to Markdown so they can be searched, diffed, quoted, and version-controlled.
- Preserves the original PDFs alongside the Markdown for verification.
- Adds inline citations (850+) so claims and equations are traceable to their primary sources.
- Provides a foundation for AI-assisted retrieval, study guides, and modernized SWMM training material.
SWMM is a dynamic rainfall-runoff-routing simulation model used worldwide for planning, analysis, and design of stormwater runoff, combined sewers, sanitary sewers, and other drainage systems. Topics covered across the included documents:
- Network representation - pipes, channels, inlets, outfalls, storage, controls
- Hydrology - runoff, infiltration, snowmelt, rainfall event modeling
- Hydraulics - flow rates, water levels, pressure, dynamic / kinematic / steady routing
- Water quality - pollutant buildup, washoff, and transport
- Flood mapping - flood risk and impact analysis
- Scenario modeling - comparing design alternatives
- Output visualization - graphs, maps, tables
- Data management - GIS import/export and time-series handling
| Folder | Contents |
|---|---|
AI Files |
AI-assisted study notes and ICM help files |
InfoSWMM |
InfoSWMM reference and help documents |
InfoSewer |
InfoSewer reference and help documents |
WCH_2004_SWMM_Fortran_Code |
Historical SWMM FORTRAN source code (2004) |
images/media |
Figures, equations, and embedded graphics |
media |
Additional media assets, including SWMM5+ install files |
| File | Description |
|---|---|
epaswmm5_1_manual_master_8-2-15.md |
EPA SWMM 5.1 User's Manual (2015 master) |
EPA_SWMM_VOLUME_II_HYDRAULICS.md |
EPA SWMM Volume II - Hydraulics |
EPA_WQ_LID.md |
EPA SWMM Water Quality & LID reference |
SWMM3 (1-249).md / SWMM3 (250-546).md |
SWMM3 User's Manual (split for readability) |
SWMM5_QA.md |
SWMM5 Q&A reference |
SWMM5plus_Installation_Guide.md |
SWMM5+ installation guide |
SWMMCatUsersGuide.md |
SWMM-CAT climate adjustment tool user's guide |
| File | Description |
|---|---|
InfoSWMMApplicationsGuide.md |
InfoSWMM applications guide |
ruby_icm_help.md |
Ruby scripting reference for ICM |
culvert_designhds5_03r.docx.md |
HDS-5 culvert design reference |
HydrologyandFloodplainAnalysis5theda.md ... c.md |
Hydrology & Floodplain Analysis (5th ed.) split parts |
Allan_Goyen_Diss.md |
Allan Goyen dissertation |
Nimmer Zaman Master's Thesis.md / .docx.md |
Nimmer Zaman master's thesis |
USGSreport.md |
USGS reference report |
| File | Description |
|---|---|
Storm Water Management Model, Volume I - Final Report., July 1971.pdf |
SWMM Vol I - Final Report (1971) |
Storm Water Management Model, Volume II - Verification and Testing, EPA Report August 1971..pdf |
SWMM Vol II - Verification & Testing (1971) |
Storm Water Management Model, Volume III - User's Manual, September 1971.pdf |
SWMM Vol III - User's Manual (1971) |
SWMM 1 - Volume IV - Program Listing.pdf |
SWMM Vol IV - Program Listing |
SWMM4 PROJECT SUMMARY.pdf |
SWMM4 project summary |
SWMM4Manuals.pdf |
Combined SWMM4 manuals |
swmm2-compressed.pdf |
SWMM2 reference (compressed) |
Extran3_Manual.pdf / .doc |
Extran 3 manual |
Extran4.pdf / Extran4-part-2.pdf |
Extran 4 manual (parts 1 & 2) |
Click any .md file in the file list to read it rendered by GitHub. Press t to jump to a file by name, or use the search box to query across all documents.
# Clone
git clone https://github.com/SWMMEnablement/SWMM_MD_Documents.git
cd SWMM_MD_Documents
# Full-text grep across all Markdown
grep -inH "dynamic wave" *.md
# Or with ripgrep
rg -n "Manning" .Every Markdown file lives at a stable GitHub URL. You can deep-link to a specific line:
https://github.com/SWMMEnablement/SWMM_MD_Documents/blob/main/<file>.md#L<line>
The Markdown corpus is well-suited for embedding-based search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). The AI Files/ folder contains examples and helper notes.
The SWMM4 Manual conversion contains 850+ inline citations linking statements, equations, and tables to their original page or source. The original PDFs in this repo are the authoritative references.
Huber, W. C., Dickinson, R. E., Barnwell, T. O., and Branch, A. (1988). Storm Water Management Model, Version 4: User's Manual. EPA/600/3-88/001a. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Athens, GA.
Contributions welcome:
- Corrections - typos or OCR artifacts in any
.mdfile: open a PR with the fix. - New conversions - additional historical SWMM/Extran/InfoSWMM/InfoSewer documents converted to Markdown.
- Citation improvements - better linking between Markdown passages and the original PDF page numbers.
- Tooling - scripts that aid search, indexing, or RAG ingestion.
Please keep original PDFs untouched; submit OCR/text fixes only to the Markdown copies.
Released under the MIT License - see LICENSE.
Original EPA documents are U.S. Government works and are in the public domain in the United States. Third-party documents (theses, textbook excerpts, vendor guides) retain their original copyrights and are included here for reference and educational use; please consult the original publishers before redistributing.
Maintained by @dickinsonre under the SWMMEnablement organization. Robert E. Dickinson is a co-author of the original SWMM4 User's Manual.