Examining the value of hydropedological information on hydrological modeling at different scales in the Sabie catchment, South Africa

Abstract

Detailed soil information is increasingly sought after for watershed-scale hydrological modeling to better understand the soil–water interactions at a landscape level. In South Africa, 8% of the surface area is responsible for 50% of the mean annual runoff. Thus, understanding the soil–water dynamics in these catchments remains imperative to future water resource management. In this study, the value of hydropedological information is tested by comparing a detailed hydropedological map based on infield soil information to the best readily available soil information at five different catchment sizes (48, 56, 174, 674, and 2421 km2) using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT)+ model in the Sabie catchment, South Africa. The aim was to determine the value of hydropedological information at different scales as well as illustrate the value of hydropedology as soft data to improve hydrological process representation. Improved hydropedological information significantly improved long-term streamflow simulations at all catchment sizes, except for the largest catchment (2421 km2). It is assumed that the resulting improved streamflow simulations are a direct result of the improved hydrological process representation achieved by the hydropedological information. Here, we argue that hydropedological information should form an important soft data tool to better understand and simulate different hydrological processes.