Abstract:
SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is a conceptual, continuous time model that was developed in the early 1990s to assist water resource managers in assessing the impact of land management practices on water, sediment and agricultural chemical yields in large complex watersheds with varying soils, land use and management conditions over a long period of time. The SWAT model was developed by merging Simulation for Water Resources in Rural Basin (SWRRB) and Routing Output to Outlet (ROTO) into one basin scale model. SWAT is the continuation of over three decades of model development within the US Department of Agriculture's, Agricultural Research Service and was developed to 'scale up' past field-scale models to large river basins. Model components include weather, hydrology, erosion/sedimentation, plant growth, nutrients, pesticides, agricultural management, stream routing and pond/reservoir routing. The model SWAT has been used in many countries all over the world. It is a flexible model that can be used under a wide range of different environmental conditions.
