Identification and management of critical erosion watersheds for improving reservoir life using hydrological modeling

Abstract

Sustainable management of water resources requires identification and management of critical erosion areas for reducing the reservoir sedimentation. A processbased distributed model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to identify critical erosion watersheds in Damodar catchment and tested soil and water management strategy to reduce sediment transport to reservoirs for improving their useful life. The model was calibrated and validated using measured runoff and sediment yield from two watersheds and two reservoir inflows. The validated model was also tested for its appropriateness by comparing the identified critical erosion area of the catchment with the erosion map prepared by Soil Conservation Department (SCD), Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC). The results show that the critical erosion area identified using modeling results matched spatially well with the DVC manually prepared area. Further, the validated model has been used to simulate the sedimentation in the reservoirs. The simulated sedimentation rate is 1.12 and 3.65 Mm 3 /year, respectively, for Konar and Panchet reservoirs for the studied period (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001), which is reduced to 0.98 and 1.80 Mm 3 /year, respectively, when the critical watersheds are treated with conservation measures. As a result of model identified and implemented management strategy, Konar and Panchet reservoirs will have an additional useful life of 8 and 85 years, respectively. Results show a successful incorporation of distributed hydrological modeling for identifying critical watersheds, developing effective management strategy for controlling soil erosion, reducing reservoir sedimentation and improving their useful life.

Comparative analysis of hydrological models for estimating sediment yield

“…The majority of research papers on the use of the SWAT model, however, exclude thorough details of the model calibration and validation processes. Additionally, the model is typically run on a monthly or annual time scale, which may not look at the precise information of the hydrological processes (Manaswi and Thawait 2014, Kumar et al 2015) [13,10] . Due to these deficiencies, the following goals of this study were set, taking into account the hydrological behavior of the watershed and the high temporal resolution of the sediment flow data: (1) thorough documentation of the SWAT model's daily calibration and validation; (2) locating erosion-prone sub-watersheds within the watershed; (3) calculating each sub watershed's SDR; (4) analyzing the effects of various combinations of LULC and soil types on sediment erosion; and (5) establishing correlations between rainfall, runoff, soil erosion, and sediment yield for the entire watershed.…”

Application of Arc-SWAT model for water budgeting and water resource planning at the Yeralwadi catchment of Khatav, India

“…The SWAT Model has in built information of soils from the world and from Indian continents. In present work the soil data was taken from the Soil Survey Department of India (NBSSLUP), to the scale of 1:250,000 (Kumar et al 2015). The soil data was accessible in a detailed format and that gives the soil texture pro le, then in SWAT model it was digitized for the further process (Dutta and Sen 2018).…”

Soil Loss and Reservoir sedimentation assessment of Kaddam watershed using Geographical Information systems and Remote sensing Techniques

“…Soil erosion is responsible for 85 percent of worldwide land deterioration., which has seventeen percent impact on agricultural productivity (Kulimushi et al, 2021). Offsite issues such as excessive silt deposition and reservoir capacity loss are reasons for the drop in agricultural yield (Arekhi et al, 2012;Kulimushi et al, 2021; S. Kumar et al, 2015). Silt deposition in reservoirs affects drinking water, irrigation facilities for farmers, hydroelectric power generation, ood control, industrial usage, water quality in downstream areas, and the economics of the region (Arekhi et al, 2012; S. Kumar et al, 2015;Markose & Jayappa, 2016).…”

“…Offsite issues such as excessive silt deposition and reservoir capacity loss are reasons for the drop in agricultural yield (Arekhi et al, 2012;Kulimushi et al, 2021; S. Kumar et al, 2015). Silt deposition in reservoirs affects drinking water, irrigation facilities for farmers, hydroelectric power generation, ood control, industrial usage, water quality in downstream areas, and the economics of the region (Arekhi et al, 2012; S. Kumar et al, 2015;Markose & Jayappa, 2016). The cost of puri cation increases when silt particles in the water vary in size and results in bad adour and taste; nevertheless, soil erosion in uences land use quality, which impacts crop yield in agricultural watersheds (Saha et al, 2019).…”