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Sediment transport in rivers is an important and complex process. It is very important to know the nature and quantities of sediments transported in course of rivers to achieve prudent water management. Due to the presence of most of the important projects on or near the banks of the river in the study area, so there is always a fear that these projects will be affected by the processes of erosion, transport, and sedimentation among the decision makers. Therefore, there is a need to develop our knowledge of the suitable equations that can be applied with acceptable accuracy to obtain satisfactory results for monitoring the processes of erosion, sedimentation, and transport that occur in River path to monitor and anticipate the changes taking place in the areas of the riverbanks. This study was carried out to check the reliability of different sediment transport formulas using data collected from the Euphrates River at the thermal power station in Al Anbar province, Iraq. The study also aimed to select the best formula for this site. Hydrological data have been collected. These were used for computing the total sediment load in the river at a specified cross-section using common sediment transport formulas ascribed to Ackers-White, Bagnold, Yang, Colby, Shen and Hung, and Engelund-Hansen. The performance of these formulas was assessed based on the accuracy of the predictions of the observed sediment load within a limited discrepancy ratio. The evaluations showed that the Engelund-Hansen formula represented the best formula for this river reach.

Currently, desertification is a major problem in the western desert of Iraq. The harsh nature, remoteness, and size of the desert make it difficult and expensive to monitor and mitigate desertification. Therefore, this study proposed a comprehensive and cost-effective method, via the integration of geographic information systems (GISs) and remote sensing (RS) techniques to estimate the potential risk of desertification, to identify the most vulnerable areas and determine the most appropriate sites for rainwater conservation. Two indices, namely, the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Degradation Index (LDI), were used for a cadastral assessment of land degradation. The findings of the combined rainwater harvesting appropriateness map, and the maps of NDVI and LDI changes found that 65% of highly suitable land for rainwater harvesting lies in the large change and 35% lies in the small change of NDVI, and 85% of highly suitable land lies in areas with a moderate change and 12% lies in strong change of LDI. The adoption of the weighted linear combination (WLC) and Boolean methods within the GIS environment, and the analysis of NDVI with LDI changes can allow hydrologists, decision-makers, and planners to quickly determine and minimize the risk of desertification and to prioritize the determination of suitable sites for rainwater harvesting.