Modeling Subsurface Drainage and Surface Runoff with WEPP
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 119, Issue 5
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) is a new technology based on fundamentals of hydrology, soil physics, plant science, hydraulics, and erosion mechanics. WEPP hydrology includes simulation of excess rainfall using the Green‐Ampt infiltration equation, surface runoff routing, evapotranspiration, percolation, and subsurface drainage to tiles (or ditch). Soil water flowing to an artificial drain (tiles or ditch) reduces the antecedent water content of soil and results in increasing soil‐infiltration capacity and reduction of storm runoff. Hydrometeorological, vegetation, topographical, and soil data from a poorly drained watershed subjected to subsurface drainage system were used to evaluate the WEPP hydrology components. Model‐simulated and measured storm‐runoff hydrographs were compared for the pre‐ and postsubsurface drainage installation. The results indicate that, in general, the model does an acceptable job of predicting storm and peak runoff rate for pre‐ and postsubsurface drainage installation.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Belmans, C., Wesseling, J. G., and Feddes, R. A. (1983). “Simulation model of the water balance of a cropped soil: SWATRE.” J. Hydr., 63, 271–186.
2.
Bottcher, A. G., Monke, E. J., and Huggins, L. F. (1981). “Nutrient and sediment loadings from a surface drainage system.” Trans., J. Ser. No. 2384, American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE), 1221–1226.
3.
Boersma, L., Simonson, G. H., and Watts, D. G. (1970). “Characterization of water tables in Oregon soils with reference to trafficability. II: Analysis.” Contract Rep. (M‐70‐1), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Miss.
4.
Chu, S. T. (1978). “Infiltration during an unsteady rain.” Water Resour. Res., 14(3), 461–466.
5.
Dierickx, J., Belmans, C., and Pauwels, P. (1986). SWATRER: A computer package for modeling the field water balance; reference manual. Laboratory of Soil and Water Engineering, K U Leuven, Belgium.
6.
Green, W. H., and Ampt, G. A. (1911). “Studies in soil physics. I: The flow of air and water through soils.” J. Agric. Sci., 4, 1–24.
7.
Istok, J. D., and Kling, G. F. (1983). “Effect of subsurface drainage on runoff and sediment yield from an agricultural watershed in western Oregon, U.S.A.” J. of Hydro., (65), 279–291.
8.
Linden, D. R. (1979). “A model to predict soil water storage as affected by tillage practices,” PhD thesis, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn.
9.
Mitchell, J. K., and Jones, B. A. Jr. (1976). “Microrelief surface depression storage: Analysis of models to describe the depth‐storage function.” AWRA Water Resour. Bull., 12(6), 1205–1222.
10.
Mitchell, J. K., and Jones, B. A. Jr. (1979). “Microrelief surface depression storage: Changes during rainfall events and their application of rainfall runoff models.” AWRA Water Resour. Bull., 14(4), 777–802.
11.
Moody, W. T. (1968). “Nonlinear differential equation of drain spacing.” J. Irrig. and Drain. Div., ASCE, 92(2), 1–9.
12.
Moore, I. D., and Larson, C. L. (1979). “Estimating microrelief surface storage from point data.” Trans. ASAE, 20(5), 10‐73–1077, 1079.
13.
National engineering handbook. (1971). “Section 16; drainage of agricultural land (USDA‐SCS‐NEH‐16).” Soil Conservation Service (SCS), U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
14.
Onstad, C. A. (1984). “Depressional storage on tilled soil surfaces.” Trans. ASAE, 27(3), 729–732.
15.
Savabi, M. R., Engman, E. T., Kustas, W. P., Rawls, W. J., and Kanemasu, E. T. (1989). “Evaluation of WEPP Water Balance Model for Watershed 1D in Konza Prairie, Kansas.” Proc., 19th Conf., Agric. and Forest Meteorology, Charleston, S.C., 147–150.
16.
Skaggs, R. W. (1978). “A Water Management Model for Shallow Water Table Soils.” Rep. No. 134, Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina, N.C.
17.
Stone, J. J., Lane, L. J., and Shirley, E. D. (1992). “Infiltration and runoff simulation on a plane.” Trans. ASAE, 35(1), 161–170.
18.
“USDA‐Water Erosion Prediction Project: Hillslope profile model documentation.” (1989). USDA‐ARS‐NSERL Rep. No. 2, L. J. Lane and M. A. Nearing, eds., U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
19.
Williams, J. R., Dyke, P. T., and Jones, C. A. (1983). “EPIC—a model for assessing the effects of erosion on soil productivity.” Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on State of the Art in Ecological Modeling, Colorado State University, 553–572.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 119 • Issue 5 • September 1993
Pages: 801 - 813
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 15, 1991
Published online: Sep 1, 1993
Published in print: Sep 1993
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.