The impact of climate and land-use changes on the hydrological processes of Owabi catchment from SWAT analysis
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Date
2019-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Hydrology
Abstract
Study region: The 69 km2 Owabi catchment in Ghana.
Study focus: The Soil-Water-Assessment-Tool (SWAT) was used to assess the hydro-climatic
variability resulting from anthropogenic activities from 1986 to 2015. Specifically, the model
simulated historic and projected stream-flow and water balance. Future stream-flow projections
were modelled for three climate ensembles under three different representative concentration
pathways (RCPs) for two land-use categories.
New hydrological insights for the region: Initial results revealed that forest and topography played
major role in water loss, whereas evapotranspiration and surface runoff were the dominant
modulating processes. Monthly calibration/validation of the model yielded acceptable results
with NSE, R2, PBIAS and RSR values of 0.66/0.67, 0.67/0.67, 8.2%/8.0% and 0.59/0.58 respectively. Uncertainty was fairly low and the model enveloped about 50% of the observed
stream-flow. The RCP projections for all land use categories showed decreasing rainfall and
streamflow trends. The model proved efficient in determining the catchment hydrology parameters and has potential to be used for further modelling of water quality and pollution to aid in
effective water management.
Description
An article published by Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 25 (2019) 100620 and available at DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2019.100620
Keywords
Hydro-climate, Stream-flow, Water resource management, Climate change, SWAT model
Citation
Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 25 (2019) 100620