Simulation Modeling For Watershed Management

A discussion of the role of modeling in the management process, with an overview of state-of-the-art modeling applications. The first chapters provide a background on the benefits and costs of modeling and on the ecological basis of models, using historical applications as examples, while the second section describes the latest models from a wide selection of environmental disciplines. Since management frequently requires the integration of knowledge from many different areas, both single discipline and multidiscipline models are discussed in detail, and the author emphasizes the importance of understanding the issues and alternatives in choosing, applying, and evaluating models. Land and watershed managers as well as students of forestry, park management, regional planing and agriculture will find this a thorough and practical introduction to all aspects of modeling.

Watershed modeling is at the heart of modern hydrology, supplying rich information that is vital to addressing resource planning, environmental, and social problems. Even in light of this important role, many books relegate the subject to a single chapter while books devoted to modeling focus only on a specific area of application. Recognizing the

The book presents a watershed based sustainable livelihoods framework which analyses the livelihoods of watershed community, evaluates watershed interventions and establishes linkages between livelihoods and hydrological components. A methodology is proposed for quantification of the socio-economic aspects, which is found effective in measuring the impacts of watershed program on local community. The SWAT hydrological model with ArcView GIS interface has been used to simulate various watershed interventions for water and sediment yields. Statistical analysis like factor and regression modelling is used to establish linkages between livelihoods and hydrological components. The GIS has played an important role in database creation, data processing and analysis. The methodology is employed on three watersheds namely Dudhi micro-watershed, Bewas micro-watershed and Dudhi milli-watershed which fall in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh State in India. The students and practitioners in the area of water resources, hydrology, environment, agriculture, irrigation, rural management and developmental studies will find this book interesting for their academic curricula and research projects.

Water is vital to life, maintenance of ecological balance, economic development, and sustenance of civilization. Planning and management of water resources and its optimal use are a matter of urgency for most countries of the world, and even more so for India with a huge population. Growing population and expanding economic activities exert increasing demands on water for varied needs--domestic, industrial, agricultural, power generation, navigation, recreation, etc. In India, agriculture is the highest user of water. The past three decades have witnessed numerous advances as well as have presented intriguing challenges and exciting opportunities in hydrology and water resources. Compounding them has been the growing environmental consciousness. Nowhere are these challenges more apparent than in India. As we approach the twenty first century, it is entirely fitting to take stock of what has been accomplished and what remains to be accomplished, and what accomplishments are relevant, with particular reference to Indian conditions.

The book provides a comprehensive insight into watersheds and modeling of the hydrological processes in the watersheds. It covers the concepts of watershed hydrology and watershed management in depth. The basic types, of soil erosion and its measurement and estimation of runoff and soil loss from the small and large watersheds are discussed. Recent advances in the watershed management like the application of remote sensing and GIS and hydrological models are a part of the book. The book serve as a guide for professional and competitive examinations for undergraduate students of Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering and graduate students of Soil Science, Soil and Water Engineering, Agricultural Physics, Hydrology and Watershed Management.

The world is facing severe and growing challenges in maintainig water quality and meeting the rapidly growing demand for water resources. In addition, water used for irrigation, the largest use of water in most developing countries, will likely have to be diverted increasingly to meet the needs of urban areas and industry whilst remaining a prime engine of agricultural growth. Finally, environmental and other in-stream water demands become more important as economies develop. The river basin has been acknowledged to be the appropriate unit of analysis to address these chanllenges facing water resources management: and modeling at this scale can provide essential information for policy makers in their decisions on allication of resources. This paper reviews the state of the art of modeling approaches to integrated water resources management at the river basin scale, with particular focus on the potential of coupled economic hydrologic models, and concludes with directions for future modeling exercises.

This book stemmed from a desire to provide a comprehensive account of some of the world's popular computer models of watershed hydrology. To achieve this objective, a variety of models that together spanned a range of characteristics were included. Some of those models represent a large class of models, some are comprehensive, some are applicable to not only civil works but also to agricultural, range and forest, and nonpoint source pollution fields; some are equipped with the GIS and remote sensing capability, and some represent a large cross-section of models from around the world. The subject matter of this book is divided into 29 chapters. Beginning with introductory remarks on watershed modeling in Chapter 1, model calibration and reliability estimation are presented in Chapters 2 and 3, respectively. The next ten chapters (4 to 13) present some of the popular models from around the world. These models are in the realm of civil engineering applications of watershed hydrology models. Some of the models are more comprehensive than others and some have the management capabilities. The next two models, presented in Chapters 14 and 15, are large-scale models and embody GIS and remote sensing technology. The models presented in Chapters 16 to 23 are more physically-based and distributed in nature, quite suited to nonpoint source pollution modeling, and to assess environmental impact of land use changes. The remaining 5 models presented in Chapters 24 to 29 are within the realm of agricultural and forestry applications. Nonpoint source pollution, erosion and impact on soil productivity, drainage design, etc., can be modeled by applying these models. Computer Models of Watershed Hydrology will be of interest to practicing hydrologists, especially to hydrologic modelers and the model users, as well as specialists in the fields of civil engineering, agricultural engineering, environmental science, forest and range science, earth science, climatology, and watershed sciences. Graduate students, teachers engaged in graduate instruction, and researchers will also find this book useful. Due to the popularity of this book and with innovations in printing, this was reprinted in 2012 with the original information. It is now part of WRP’s Classic Resource Edition.

This book discusses the development of useful models and their applications in soil and water engineering. It covers various modeling methods, including groundwater recharge estimation, rainfall-runoff modeling using artificial neural networks, development and application of a water balance model and a HYDRUS-2D model for cropped fields, a multi-model approach for stream flow simulation, multi-criteria analysis for construction of groundwater structures in hard rock terrains, hydrologic modeling of watersheds using remote sensing, and GIS and AGNPS.