Abstract
Land use/land cover dynamics change the hydrology and sediment yield of the watershed. This research on how land use dynamics alters catchment hydrology and reservoir sedimentation aids the government to implement appropriate response strategies to minimize undesirable future impacts on the upper Megech dam reservoir. For this study, the impacts were quantified and analyzed through hydrological modeling (SWAT). The overall analysis was performed by using 1998 historical and 2016 recent land use satellite images. The analysis has shown that the cultivated land has increased from 60.69% to 67.17% and urban land from 2.3% to 3.36% between 1998 and 2016. Whereas the grassland area has decreased from 11.42% to 5.33%, plantation forest from 1.84% to 0.9%, and bareland from 3.58% to 2.56%. A comparison of the simulated outputs of the model shows that the mean annual surface runoff for 1998 land use was 251.3 mm and had changed to 316.7 mm in 2016 land use. The mean annual streamflow changed from 150.3 m3/sec to 165.6 m3/sec for 1998 and 2016 land uses, respectively. Similarly, 10.23 t/ha mean annual sediment load gets into Megech dam reservoir in 1998 LULC and was changed to 13.61 t/ha in 2016 LULC. This shows that streamflow, surface runoff, and sediment yield increases by 10.2%, 26.03%, and 33.3% in 2016 land use as compared with 1998 land use. Finally, the most dynamic subbasins that have a significant impact on streamflow and sediment yield were identified. Based on this, subbasins 13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, and 25 were found to be the most dynamic and change sensitive subbasins that have a significant contribution to the increment of runoff and sediment yield in Megech dam watershed.
Highlights
Natural and man-induced factors on global land cover change, especially in terms of change from forest cover to other land cover, has been one of the important issues on global change research
In the upper Blue Nile Basin, poor land use practices and lack of soil conservation strategies are major causes of downstream reservoir sedimentation. e land use of Megech dam watershed is changed rapidly due to the increasing demand for agricultural practice, urbanization, and deforestation. ese call for immediate measures to safeguard the soil and water resources degradation of the country, in Megech dam watershed
Research of catchment hydrology and reservoir sedimentation under land use dynamics is a key to improve the management of the entire Nile Basin, Megech dam watershed, so that it is possible to forecast the future effect of the land use change on the hydrology of the catchment. erefore, data on how the catchment hydrology is changed concerning land use/land cover changes are necessary to improve the knowledge of catchment characteristics
Summary
Civil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Debre Berhan University, P.O. Box 445, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia. Land use/land cover dynamics change the hydrology and sediment yield of the watershed. A comparison of the simulated outputs of the model shows that the mean annual surface runoff for 1998 land use was 251.3 mm and had changed to 316.7 mm in 2016 land use. E mean annual streamflow changed from 150.3 m3/sec to 165.6 m3/sec for 1998 and 2016 land uses, respectively. Is shows that streamflow, surface runoff, and sediment yield increases by 10.2%, 26.03%, and 33.3% in 2016 land use as compared with 1998 land use. Subbasins 13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 24, and 25 were found to be the most dynamic and change sensitive subbasins that have a significant contribution to the increment of runoff and sediment yield in Megech dam watershed
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