Prioritization of subwatersheds based on flooding conditions using hydrological model, multivariate analysis and remote sensing technique

Abstract

AbstractPrioritization of watersheds has gained more importance in natural resources management, particularly in the context of watershed management. Flooding potential is one of the main indices used to prioritize watersheds. The objective of this study is to investigate the Pol‐Doab Shazand Watershed flooding conditions as a result of land use change and prioritization of its subwatersheds using rainfall – runoff data. For this purpose, after computation of design flow with different return periods, factor analysis technique was applied to determine the best flow with proper return period towards evaluation and prioritization of subwatersheds. The results showed that the design flow with 25‐year return period (Q25) is suitable. The results indicate that subwatershed 22 is the highest priority because of large changes in peak flow, and subwatershed 2 given the lowest priority since changes in peak flow is the lowest.