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International audienceIt is commonly accepted that forest plays role to modify the water cycle at the watershed scale. However, the impact of forest on aquifer recharge is still discussed: some studies indicate that infiltration is facilitated under forest while other studies suggest a decrease of recharge. This paper presents an estimate of recharge rates to groundwater in a humid forested watershed of India. Recharge estimates are based on the joint use of several methods: chloride mass balance, water table fluctuation, geophysics, groundwater chemistry and flow analysis. Two components of the recharge (direct and indirect) are estimated over 3 years of monitoring (2003-2006). The direct and localized recharges resulting from rainfall over the entire watershed surface area is estimated to 45 mm/yr while the indirect recharge occurring from the stream during flood events is estimated to 30 mm/yr for a two km-long stream. Calculated recharge rates, rainfall and runoff measurements are then combined in a water budget to estimate yearly evapotranspiration which ranges from 80 to 90% of the rainfall, i.e. 1050 mm/y as an average. This unexpected high value for a deciduous forest is nevertheless in agreement with the forest worldwide relationship between rainfall and evapotranspiration. The large evapotranspiration form the forest cover contributes to decrease the recharge rate which leads to a lowering of the water table. This is the reason why the stream is highly ephemeral

International audienceAccurate estimations of water balance are needed in semi-arid and sub-humid tropical regions, where water resources are scarce compared to water demand. Evapotranspiration plays a major role in this context, and the difficulty to quantify it precisely leads to major uncertainties in the groundwater recharge assessment, especially in forested catchments. In this paper, we propose to assess the importance of deep unsaturated regolith and water uptake by deep tree roots on the groundwater recharge process by using a lumped conceptual model (COMFORT). The model is calibrated using a 5 year hydrological monitoring of an experimental watershed under dry deciduous forest in South India (Mule Hole watershed). The model was able to simulate the stream discharge as well as the contrasted behaviour of groundwater table along the hillslope. Water balance simulated for a 32 year climatic time series displayed a large year-to-year variability, with alternance of dry and wet phases with a time period of approximately 14 years. On an average, input by the rainfall was 1090 mm/year and the evapotranspiration was about 900 mm/year out of which 100 mm/year was uptake from the deep saprolite horizons. The stream flow was 100 mm/year while the groundwater underflow was 80 mm/year. The simulation results suggest that (i) deciduous trees can uptake a significant amount of water from the deep regolith, (ii) this uptake, combined with the spatial variability of regolith depth, can account for the variable lag time between drainage events and groundwater rise observed for the different piezometers and (iii) water table response to recharge is buffered due to the long vertical travel time through the deep vadose zone, which constitutes a major water reservoir. This study stresses the importance of long term observations for the understanding of hydrological processes in tropical forested ecosystems

The study aims at calibration of the storm water management model (SWMM) with non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-III (NSGA-III) for urban catchment in Hyderabad, India. The SWMM parameters calibrated were Manning's roughness coefficient (N), depression storage for pervious and impervious areas (DP and Di), sub-catchment width (W), curve number (CN), drying time (dry) of soil and percentage of imperviousness (I). The efficacy of calibration was evaluated by comparing the observed and simulated peak flows and runoff using goodness-of-fit indices. The calibration takes into consideration eight event rainfalls resulting in eight calibrated sets. Weights of goodness-of-fit indices were estimated and the best calibrated set was further validated for five continuous rainfalls/runoffs. Simulated runoff volume and peak runoff over the five continuous rainfalls deviated by 7–22% and 2–20% with respect to observed data. Results indicated that parameters calibrated for an event rainfall could be used for continuous rainfall-runoff modelling. The effect of catchment delineation scale on runoff was also studied. The study indicated that output of the model was sensitive to variation in parameter values of infiltration and imperviousness.