Spatial Modeling Considering valley’s Shape and Rural Satisfaction in Check Dams Site Selection and Water Harvesting in the Watershed

Abstract

Check dams in rural watersheds are useful and popular structures for rain or runoff water harvesting. This study investigates three combined approaches to check dam site selection. The approaches including (i) Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE), (ii) satisfaction of rural as benefices or exploiters, and (iii) valley’s shape analysis in the Manshad-Yazd watershed located in the center of Iran. A criteria tree model was designed and groups of constraints and factors were used for the spatial decision-making model. Constraints and factors were standardized using Boolean and fuzzy logic, respectively. The factors were weighted based on expert opinions. The factor layers were overlaid for producing a site selection map. Until this stage, geographic information systems (GIS) operated as a spatial decision support system. The decision-making process was completed using valley’s shapes (profiles steepness and cross-sections width/depth10m Min = 4.7 and upstream, Max = 42.7 at downstream), and rural satisfactoriness approaches. The proposed approaches are suggested for rapid, satisfied, and precise mapping of the check dam in the watershed for water harvesting. It is recommended to study the method in watersheds by more various biophysics, socio-economic and valley’s shapes.