Application of SWAT in an Indian river basin for modeling runoff, sediment and water balance

Abstract

The present study integrated remote sensing derived products, gridded precipitation and temperature data, and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) within a geographic information system modeling environment to evaluate the hydrology, sediment yield and water balance for a medium-sized Ken basin of Central India. The entire basin was divided into 10 sub-basins comprising 143 hydrological response units on the basis of unique land cover, soil and slope classes using the SWAT model. Monthly and daily calibrated (1985–1995) and validated (1996–2005) SWAT model used the observed discharge and sediment data of the Banda site of the Ken basin. The runoff simulation was good on daily basis (R 2 = 0.766 and 0.780 for calibration and validation period, respectively) and was further improved (very good) on monthly basis (R 2 = 0.946 and 0.959 for calibration and validation period, respectively). The sediment simulation was considerable on daily basis (R 2 = 0.429 and 0.379 for calibration and validation period, respectively) and was further improved (good) on monthly basis (R 2 = 0.748 and 0.721 for calibration and validation period, respectively). The water balance study of the basin showed that evapotranspiration is more predominant accounting for about 44.6% of the average annual precipitation falling over the area. The average annual sediment yield of the basin was found to be 15.41 t/ha/year, which falls under high erosion class.