For CWMS, a watershed is a set of data, information, models, and images that represent watershed lands and the channels, gages, and water control features within the watershed. An existing watershed can be opened from any of the modules. (If a new watershed needs to be created, refer to Creating a Watershed). There are two methods available to open a watershed. First, if the watershed has been opened before, from the CWMS CAVI main window, from the File menu, point to Recent Watersheds, from the list, select the correct watershed. The second way to open a watershed follows: 

  1. From the CWMS CAVI main window, from the File menu, click Open Watershed, the Open Watershed dialog will open.
    Figure 1 Open Watershed Dialog
  2. From the Available Watersheds box, select the watershed. (A new location can be added by clicking Edit. Click Add Location, enter a name for the new watershed location after, navigate to the appropriate folder on the local workstation by clicking Browse, and then click OK. The watershed location is saved in the Available Locations box.)
  3. Click OK.


Only one CWMS watershed can be open at a time. Therefore, if a watershed is open and you attempt to open another watershed, CWMS will close the initially opened watershed. CWMS first prompts you to save the watershed, if you do not save the watershed, changes will be lost.