V-1-Simulating the Impact of Forest Cover Change on Annual Stream Flow From a Forested Watershed.

Abstract

The present study aims at understanding the impact of changing land cover on the stream flow. In order to simulate the impact of land cover changes, a mathematical model has been used with the observed data such as rainfall, discharge and evaporation from a forested watershed in Western Ghats, namely Barchinala catchment. The simulations were done by hypothetically assuming the rate of deforestation in the catchment (i.e, by altering the forest cover). The simulated discharges are quantified using the flow duration curves. A comparison of simulated and observed flow data indicate that, there is a significant change in flow as the forest cover reduces to 40% in the catchment.