Stream Flow and Land Use Land Cover Change in Finchaa Hydropower, Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Abstract

In all over the world, land use land cover changes (LULCC) effect on the water storage structures is important for proper management of water resources and its uses. The effects of LULCC and improper management systems have played a significant role for sediment transport movement, regulation and life expectancy of the reservoir. For the analysis of LULCC in Finchaa watershed the geographic information system (GIS) version based SWAT has been used to evaluate sensitivities and patterns of LULCC. To predict stream flow because of LULCC calibration and validation of the soil and water assessment tool were applied using the compatible version of SWAT CUP against stream flow for Finchaa hydropower reservoir were taken to estimate model performance on monthly basis. LULCC involve all the parameter which are responsible to decrease the proper regulation and performance in ecosystem. To predict stream flow changes the analysis were performed on surface runoff, sediment yield and flow of ground water. It was found that the SWAT model predict stream flow due to LULCC reasonably well having R2 values of 0.71 & 0.74 and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency were found to be 0.68 & 0.72 for calibration and validation of the model resulting the best model to predict hydrological process of the basin or catchment.