Application of SWAT model for predicting soil erosion and sediment yield

Hirakud, the longest earthen dam in Asia on the river Mahanadi, has been affected by sedimentation problems which affect reservoir storage capacities and different reservoir operations. This article presents the hydrological modeling of the Mahanadi catchment up to Hirakud, located in the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha in India, using the modified version of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) with an interface of ArcView Geographic Information System software to predict soil erosion and sediment transport to the reservoir for improving its useful life. The data sources used in the study were: terrain data 90 m resolution of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, Land Use and Land Cover derived from Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, soil map published by National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, India and meteorological data collected from India Meteorological Department, India. The study involves the analysis of sensitive parameters of the simulated data (discharge 15, sediment load 6); 5-year calibration and 3-year validation on daily basis to predict the discharge and sediment load. The sensitivity analysis was carried out using the Latin Hypercube and One-factor-At-a-Time. The results also show that the prediction of sediment yield is highly sensitive to the sizes of different sub-basins due to the sensitivity of topographic factors used in the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation. The graphical as well as statistical results achieved in this study indicate that the model is capable to identify critical erosion-prone areas within the watershed on the scale of sub-watershed which helps the hydrologists to introduce effective management practices at the lowest cost. The study shows that about 34% area of total catchment falls under high or above soil erosion zones with combination of coarse loamy type of soil and agricultural type of land use and land cover condition. The results of this study also identify regions of high sediment yield and sediment delivery ratio. To enhance the SWAT model performance, it is recommended to use sub-daily data and to prioritize soil erosion at the Hydrological Response Units level for improvement of watershed management. © 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.