Abstract
In the present research, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used for the prediction of surface runoff amounts of the catchment of Al-Masad, in the Western Desert of Iraq. The prediction period was from September 2020 to January 2030. The calibration and verification of this model were performed according to the daily surface runoff data that were measured between 2010 and 2014. Statistical parameters were employed to determine the performance of the model. These parameters were RSR (ratio of the root mean square error to the standard deviation of measured data), NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency), and PBias (percent Bias), which were calculated as 0.58%, 0.71%, and 13% for calibration and 0.55%, 0.74% and 11% for verification, respectively. The results from the model verification and calibration prove that this model was sufficient in simulating the catchment surface runoff. Furthermore, the SWAT model was applied for the prediction of daily, monthly, and yearly surface runoff value of the catchment from 2021 to 2030. The results obtained from the model showed that the annual surface runoff volume of the catchment, throughout the period of the simulation, was between 0.65 and 8.3 million m<sup>3</sup> with an average value of 2.622 million m<sup>3</sup>.
Highlights
One of the main challenges that many societies are currently facing or may need to face during the few years is the great scarcity in the amount of the available water resources as a result of the changing conditions of land use and climate change
The aim of the present study is to explore the morphological and spatial properties within Wadi Al-Masad basin water drainage network through the use of the SWAT model
The results indicate that many water harvesting projects can be implemented within the study area due to the significant amount of water that was estimated by the model
Summary
One of the main challenges that many societies are currently facing or may need to face during the few years is the great scarcity in the amount of the available water resources as a result of the changing conditions of land use and climate change. The water resources in Iraq, in the area of the Western desert, are facing several issues due to some of the predominant natural conditions such as draught, high evaporation rates as a result of the increase in the rates of temperature, and the breadth of the desertification phenomenon. Those conditions need exploring and studying the conventional resources of water which are available in that region such as groundwater and seasonal rainstorms flood [4]–[6].
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