HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING OF NARMADA RIVER USING ArcSWAT SOFTWARE

Abstract

A major source of water supply and ground water recharge in the central India is the Narmada River, which flows through the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat in central India. As a consequence, it follows that better planning for watershed management and water resource management may be implemented after accurate modelling of hydrologic processes. This research on the Middle Narmada basin used the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). The primary objective of this study is to extract parameters for runoff modelling and to forecast runoff in the Middle Narmada basin. The right DEM, land use, soil type, soil properties, and hydro-climatological data were collected for SWAT simulation. For 15 years, the SWAT model was simulated by providing all input data (1995-2010). Over the course of a year, the annual average surface runoff is 254.79 mm. The SUFI-2 calibration and validation process was used to the model. The model's sensitivity study to sub-basin delineation and HRU definition thresholds revealed that the flow is more sensitive to the HRU definition thresholds than the sub-basin discretization effect. While SWAT was shown to be accurate with their predictions, the accuracy of their daily stream flow estimates in the Middle Narmada basin has not been established. In the future, stream flow and soil erosion may be studied using the calibrated model while implementing other types of management scenarios, as well as a changing climate.