Application of a SWAT Model for Hydrological Modeling in the Xixian Watershed, China
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 18, Issue 11
Abstract
Water scarcity in Huaihe River, the sixth largest river in China, is stressed by the changing climate and intense human activities, especially in the headwater area. Xixian, situated in the upper reaches of the Huai River, is an important agricultural county with a population of more than one million people, and nearly one billion kg of crop yield every year. The projected climate changes and increasing population are expected to further complicate the utilization of already stressed water resources, endangering the agricultural activities in this area. There is pressing need for a watershed model to better understand the interaction between land use activities and hydrologic processes and to support sustainable water use. This study evaluated the performance of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for hydrologic modeling in the Xixian basin; three methods of calibration and uncertainty analysis (sequential uncertainty fitting, generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation, and parameter solution) were compared and used to set up the model. The results showed that SWAT performs well in the Xixian River basin, that the hydrological water balance analysis of the basin indicated that base flow is an important aspect of the total discharge within the study area, and that more than 60% of the annual precipitation is lost through evapotranspiration. The calibrated model can be used to further analyze the effects of climate and land use changes and to investigate the effects of different cultivation styles and management scenarios on local water resources.
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Acknowledgments
The first author thanks the following financial support: Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (51190091); the National 973 Project under Grant No. 2010CB951102; the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education, China (20090094120008); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41001011/40901015/D0101012/51079038); the Special Fund of State Key Laboratory of China (2009586412/2009585312); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (B1020072/B1020062) and the Commonweal Project Granted by the Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China (201001045). Thanks to the editor and the anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments on the earlier manuscript that led to a great improvement of the article.
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 18 • Issue 11 • November 2013
Pages: 1522 - 1529
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 5, 2010
Accepted: Jan 4, 2012
Published online: Oct 15, 2013
Published in print: Nov 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Mar 15, 2014
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