GIS-Based Site Selection for Check Dams in Watersheds: Considering Geomorphometric and Topo-Hydrological Factors

Abstract

Check dams are widely used watershed management measures for reducing flood peak discharge and sediment transport, and increasing lag time and groundwater recharge throughout the world. However, identifying the best suitable sites for check dams within the stream networks of various watersheds remains challenging. This study aimed to develop an open-source software with user-friendly interface for screening the stream network possibilities and identifying and guiding the selection of suitable sites for check dams within watersheds. In this developed site selection software (SSS), multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was integrated into geographic information systems (GIS), which allowed for numerous spatial data of the multiple criteria to be relatively simply and visually processed. Different geomorphometric and topo-hydrological factors were considered and accounted for to enhance the SSS identification of the best locations for check dams. The factors included topographic wetness index (TWI), terrain ruggedness index (TRI), topographic position index (TPI), sediment transport index (STI), stream power index (SPI), slope, drainage density (DD), and stream order (SO). The site identification performance of the SSS was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve method, with results for the case study example of the Poldokhtar watershed in Iran showing excellent performance and identifying 327 potential sites for efficient check dam construction in this watershed. The SSS tool is not site-specific but is rather general, adaptive, and comprehensive, such that it can and should be further applied and tested across different watersheds and parts of the world.

Dam Siting: A Review

“…TRI is one of the main factors affecting river potential energy, surface water storage capacity, runoff velocity, and river path at the watershed scale, characterizing elevation differences between adjacent raster [97]. Rahmati [98] proposed a check dam siting for soil and water conservation purposes, highlighting the importance of hydro-topographic factors and using five indices: TWI, TPI, STI, SPI, and TRI. Jamali [64] used TWI to quantify the influence of hydrological processes by topography in groundwater siting in Pakistan.…”

“…The river network provides the essential runoff for the dams, and different river network classes indicate different runoff volumes when the rivers are upstream tributaries and downstream mainstems. River network density reflects the water resources in the region, and a higher river network density shows better diversion capacity in the face of floods, while river network density and flood volume show a positive correlation trend [98]. The river network rank indirectly reflects the runoff volume, where higher-order rivers have higher runoff volume.…”

Small hydropower dam site suitability modelling in upper Benue river watershed, Nigeria

“…For this study, the area under the curve (AUC) of the Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) was used to validate the performance of the prediction (Rahmati et al 2019;Choubin et al 2019). This was done by comparing Fig.…”

Identifying Optimal Sites for a Rainwater-Harvesting Agricultural Scheme in Iran Using the Best-Worst Method and Fuzzy Logic in a GIS-Based Decision Support System

“…A check dam is a small dam constructed across a channel to reduce the flow velocity. Many studies have investigated these multifunctional structures in different countries, including China, Italy, Japan, France, Spain, the United States, Iran, India, Austria, Switzerland, Thailand and Ethiopia [62]. Reduced runoff velocity may reduce erosion and gullying in the channel and allow sediment to settle out.…”