MODELLING OF STREAM FLOWS OF A FORESTED CATCHMENT IN THE TROPICS USING HEC-HMS

H.M.S. FERNANDO, M.P. GUNAWARDENA, M.M.M. NAJIM

Abstract


Singharaja and adjacent forested areas drains into two major rivers in Sri Lanka and they are crucial sources of drinking water downstream and contributes to frequent floods. This study was done to model stream flows and evaluate the applicability of the model for a dense tropical forest catchment. Hydrological model HEC-HMS was calibrated (2009-2014) and validated (2015-2019) for river flow simulation and evaluated using the residual method. R2 values of the best calibration and validation were 0.7070 and 0.7797, respectively. In the best calibration, 73.7% and 92.3% of residuals fell within +1SD and +2SD, and in the best validation, 74.3% and 93.6% of residuals fell within +1SD and +2SD, respectively. The results indicated that HEC-HMS can be used to simulate flows of a catchment covered with tropical forests reliably, especially during high rainfall and flow conditions. The model could be used to model rainfall and flow events leading to floods with greater accuracy than previous applications in other Sri Lankan catchments. It further confirms that the HEC-HMS model is a good tool to predict flows from a catchment covered with dense natural evergreen forests and planted forests in the tropics. HEC-HMS can reliably be used as a tool in biodiversity conservation in the tropical forest and streams fed by the catchment as these streams are the habitat for many endemic and endangered life.


Keywords


HEC-HMS, Forested Catchment, Flows, Simulation, Flood, Calibration, Validation

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