Evaluation of surface run-off potential of basins in Nineveh governorate, Iraq based on morphometric analysis, using RS and GIS

Abstract

Surface run-off is very important factor for water harvesting projects which is one the effective solutions in reducing the water shortage, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. The objective of this study is to evaluate the run-off potential at the outlets of 40 selected basins within Nineveh governorate, Iraq, based on the morphometric analysis using remote sensing and geographic information systems. In order to achieve this objective, the morphometric parameters adopted were extracted based on ALOS PALSAR DEM with high resolution 12.5 m and using the traditional formulas and ArcMap, the calculated parameters were weighed on a scale of (1–40), then, the factor named as compound factor for each basin were calculated, finally, the 40 basins were categorized into five ranks of run-off potential based on their compound factor namely: (very high potential) were assigned for 7 out of 40 basins that have very high compound factor, (high potential) were assigned for 10 basins that have the next high compound factor, (moderate potential) were assigned for 9 basins, (low potential) were assigned for 10 basins and (very low potential) were assigned for 4 basins that have lowest values of compound factor. Finally, the results obtained using the adopted methodologies can be useful for the decision makers that interested in the rainwater harvesting within the study area, also the methodologies used can be generalized to comprise all the basins throughout Iraq for developing the rainwater harvesting projects.