Estimation of Suspended Sediment Loads in Diyala River Watershed, Iraq, using SWAT Model
Main Article Content
Abstract
Suspended sediment loads (SSL) transported from the watershed of the Diyala River (WODR) are the most important and dangerous forms of sediment as they drift to the stream flow of the Diyala River and are then transferred to the reservoirs of Hemren Dam (HD) and Derbendikhan Dam (DD), which are located in the study area, affecting the capacity storage of the reservoirs and reducing electrical energy production. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a hydrological model that can simulate the SSL distribution in the WODR to enable decision-makers to develop an appropriate plan to solve the sediment problem. In WODR, the data of SSL are very rare, as sediment measurements have not been conducted for more than 40 years. Due to the lack of historical data for sediment values for the study area and the need to reduce uncertainty, sediment measurements were conducted from November 2022 to April 2023. The motivation of the present study is to study and address the limitations imposed on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model during the estimation of SSL in the WODR that have scarce data and whose quality is inaccurate. The observed monthly flow data from two gauging stations, HD and DD, from January 2000 to April 2023 and suspended sediment concentration, which was measured in the field from November 2022 to April 2023, were used for calibration and validation of the model, respectively, using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting Version 2 (SUFI-2) algorithm and SWAT-Calibration Uncertainty Procedures (CUP). Statistically, using the coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and percent of bias (Pbias) the performance of the model was evaluated, with good agreement between observed and simulated values for both stream flow and SSL. The results showed that the values of the SSL in the WODR from January 2000 to April 2023 were equal to 115.240 t/ha/yr. Sub-basins 5 and 12 have the highest SSL values of 15.125 t/ha/yr and 9.098 t/ha/yr, respectively, and the most important factor in SSL formation is the slope of the land, with a correlation coefficient (R2=0.94).
Metrics
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
THIS IS AN OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE UNDER THE CC BY LICENSE http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Plaudit
References
Church M. Bed Material Transport and the Morphology of Alluvial River Channels. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 2006; 34(30): 325-354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.33.092203.122721
Daramola J, Ekhwan TM, Mokhtar J, Lam KC, Adeogun GA. Estimating Sediment Yield at Kaduna Watershed, Nigeria Using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Model. Heliyon 2019; 5(7): e02106, (1-8). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02106
Aga AO, Melesse AM, Chane B. Estimating the Sediment Flux and Budget for a Data Limited Rift Valley Lake in Ethiopia. Hydrology 2018; 6(1): 1, (1-22) DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6010001
Mhaina AS. Modeling Suspended Sediment Load Using SWAT Model in Data Scarce Area-Iraq (Al-Adhaim Watershed as a Case Study). M.Sc. Thesis, Technology University; Baghdad, Iraq: 2017.
Ezz-Aldeen M, Hassan R, Ali A, Al-Ansari N, Knutsson S. Watershed Sediment and its Effect on Storage Capacity: Case Study of Dokan Dam Reservoir. Water 2018; 10(7): 858, (1-16). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w10070858
Birhanua SY, Moges MA, Sinshaw BC, Tefera AK, Atinkut HB, Fenta HM, Berihunb ML. Hydrological Modeling, Impact of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change on Hydrological Process and Sediment Yield; Case Study in Jedeb and Chemoga Watersheds. Energy Nexus 2022; 5: 100051, (1-11). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexus.2022.100051
Al-Khafaji MS, Al-Chalabi RD. Assessment and Mitigation of Streamflow and Sediment Yield under Climate Change Conditions in Diyala River Basin, Iraq. Hydrology 2019; 6(3): 63, (1-21). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6030063
Al-Ansari NA, Al-Sinawi GT, Jamil AK. Suspended and Solute Loads on the Low Diyala River. IAHS-AISH Publication 1986; 159: 225-235.
Ezz-Aldeen M, Al-Ansari N, Kuntsoon S. Application of Swat Model to Estimate the Sediment Load from the Left Bank of Mosul Dam. Journal of Advanced Science and Engineering Research 2013; 3(1): 47-61.
Tarawneh ER. Robust Hydrologic Modelling for Land and Water Management in Data-Scarce Environments. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Liverpool; Liverpool, England: 2017.
Nie W, Yuan Y, Kepner W, Nash MS, Jackson M, Erickson C. Assessing Impacts of Landuse and landcover Changes on Hydrology for the upper San Pedro Watershed. Journal of Hydrology 2011; 407(1-4): 105-114. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.07.012
Chemura A, Rwasoka D, Mutanga O, Duba T, Mushore T. Impact of Land-Use/Land Cover Changes on Water Balance of the Heterogeneous Buzi Sub-Catchment, Zimbabwe. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment 2020; 18: 100292, (1-11). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2020.100292
Sirabahenda Z, St-Hilairea A, Courtenay SC, Van der Heuvel MR. Assessment of the Effective Width of Riparian Buffer Strips to Reduce Suspended Sediment in an Agricultural Landscape Using ANFIS and SWAT Models. Catena 2020; 195: 104762. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104762
Awotwi A. et al. Water Balance Responses to Land-Use/Land-Cover Changes in the Pra River Basin of Ghana, 1986–2025. Catena 2019; 182: 104129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104129
Samal DR, Gedam S. Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Water Resources in the Upper Bhima River Basin, India. Environmental Challenges 2021; 5: 100251, (1-13). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2021.100251
Nyatuame M, Amekudzi LK, Agodzo SK. Assessing the Land Use/Land Cover and Climate Change Impact on Water Balance on Tordzie Watershed. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment 2020; 20: 100381, (1-13). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2020.100381
Khudier AS, Hamdan AN. Assessment of the Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Change on Water Resources in the Diyala River, Iraq. Open Engineering 2023; 13(1): 20220456. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/eng-2022-0456
Saeed FH, Al-Khafaji MS, Al-Faraj F. Hydrologic Response of Arid and Semi-Arid River Basins in Iraq under a Changing Climate. Journal of Water and Climate Change 2022; 13(3): 1225-1240. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2022.418
Saeed FH, Al-Khafaji MS, Al-Faraj FA. Sensitivity of Irrigation Water Requirement to Climate Change in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions Towards Sustainable Management of Water Resources. Sustainability 2021; 13(24): 13608, (1-21). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413608
Arnold JG, et al. SWAT: Model Use, Calibration, and Validation. Transactions of the ASABE 2012; 55(4): 1491-1508. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.42256
Abbaspour KC. SWAT-CUP: SWAT Calibration and Uncertainty Programs - a User Manual. Eawag: Dübendorf, Switzerland 2015: 16-70.
Mengistu AG, Van Rensburg LD, Woyessa YE. Techniques for Calibration and Validation of SWAT Model in Data Scarce Arid and Semi-Arid Catchments in South Africa. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 2019; 25: 100621. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2019.100621
Erraioui L, Taia S, Taj-Eddine K, Chao J, El Mansouri B. Hydrological Modelling in the Ouergha Watershed by Soil and Water Analysis Tool. Journal of Ecological Engineering 2023; 24(4): 343–356. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12911/22998993/161043
Anand J, Gosain AK, Khosa GR. Prediction of Land Use Changes Based on Land Change Modeler and Attribution of Changes in the Water Balance of Ganga Basin to Land Use Change Using the SWAT Model. Science of the Total Environment 2018; 644: 503-519. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.017
Khassaf SI, Hassan AA. Suspended Sediment Rating Curve for Tigris River Upstream Al-Amarah Barrage. International Journal of Advanced Research 2014; 2(5): 624-629.
Abbaspour KC, Vaghefi SA,Yang H, Srinivasan R. Global Soil, Landuse, Evapotranspiration, Historical and Future Weather Databases for SWAT Applications. Scientific Data 2019; 6(1): 263, (1-11). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0282-4
Marhaento H, Booij MJ, Rientjes THM, Hoekstra AY. Attribution of Changes in the Water Balance of a Tropical Catchment to Land Use Change Using the SWAT Model. Hydrological Processes 2017; 31(11): 2029-2040. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11167
Al-Khafaji MS, Al-Chalabi RD. Impact of Climate Change on the Spatiotemporal Distribution of Stream Flow and Sediment Yield of Darbandikhan Watershed, Iraq. Engineering and Technology Journal 2020; 38(02 Part A): 265-276. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30684/etj.v38i2A.156
Saeed FH. Climate Change Adaptation Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model for Conflict Resolution of Water Resources Allocation in Iraq. Ph.D. Thesis, Technology University; Baghdad, Iraq: 2016.