Author(s): Ningthoujam Victoria; Ngangbam Romeji; L. Bilashini Chanu

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Ecosystems; Urbanized; Hydrological modelling; SWAT-CUP; Uncertainty; Validation

Abstract: Sediment controls the physical habitat of river ecosystems. Changes in the amount and distribution of different sediment types cause changes in river-channel form and river habitat especially in urbanized catchments. Understanding sediment transport and the conditions under which sediment is deposited or eroded from the various environments in a river is therefore critical to understanding and managing sediment and sediment-related habitat in rivers. Sediment transport in rivers is controlled by both the flow and the upstream sediment supply. The objective of this study is to quantify the sediment loading through a small river basin by applying the SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tools) on the Nambul river basin located between 23.80°N to 25.68°N Latitude and 93.03°E to 94.91°E, with an average altitude of 785m, drains an area of 217.482 sq km. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT, version 2012) model integrated with Geographic Information System (ArcGIS, version 10.2) were used to simulate the discharge and sediment loading. Model calibration and validation were performed for daily time periods using Sequential Uncertainty Fitting 2 (SUFI-2, version 2) within SWAT-CUP. Our calibration and validation outputs for daily simulation showed a good model performance for discharges. Thus the evolution of the average total annual sediment in the Nambul river basin which will be deposited in the Loktak Lake, largest freshwater lake in North East India is estimated at 11.92T/ha. The study indicates that SWAT model can be used to simulate the runoff and sediment that are mainly caused by rainfall, soil characteristics, etc

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022963

Year: 2022