Hydrological modeling of a sub-basin of Mahanadi river basin using SWAT model

Abstract

Hydrological modeling has important role for designing, planning and managing any water resource developmental project. In developing countries like India, it is more relevant to model the river basin as discharge measurement at various locations is a costly affair. Once a hydrologic model is calibrated for a basin, it may be used to produce the discharge time series at any location of interest. In the present study, an attempt has been made by using soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model to understand different hydrological processes occurring in Andhiyarkhor basin of Hamp river, which is a tributary of Mahanadi river of western Chhattisgarh. Various hydro-climatic data and spatial data were used for the study, which were collected from different global and local databases. After data processing, the Arc-SWAT interface of Arc-GIS was used to build up the parameters alongwith hydrologic components, which are required in the SWAT model. The study was conducted for a period of 30 years (1984-2013). During the calibration period of 20 years (1983-2002), the model resulted into R2, NSE, MSE, RMSE, NMSE and MAE values of 0.65, 0.50, 182.70, 13.52, 0.50 and 0.49, respectively. Similarly, during the validation period of 10 years (2003-2013), R2, NSE, MSE, RMSE, NMSE and MAE values were calculated as 0.63, 0.40, 169.46, 13.02, 0.60 and 0.50, respectively. Sensitivity analysis of SWAT model was performed using LH-OAT technique, and out of twelve calibrated parameters, five parameters were found to be sensitive.