Floods are among the most devastating natural disasters in small suburban catchments. These phenomena, causing loss of life and massive property damage, pose a serious threat to the economy. Hydrological modeling is extremely important in terms of climate change, and the use of appropriate modeling can be a useful tool for flood risk prevention and mitigation. Rainfall–runoff modeling requires the selection of an appropriate hydrological model in order to obtain satisfactory results. Hydrological models are used in water resource planning and management to estimate catchment runoff. Small uncontrolled catchments play a particularly important role in hydrological phenomena, since changes in them affect flows in the recipient. Hydrologists are particularly interested in developing hydrological models that can be made with a minimum of data and parameters. Nash models and the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) are examples of simple and most practical hydrologic models. These models were used in this paper to study geographic and qualitative changes in precipitation runoff due to land cover changes. The modeling was carried out for two spatial aspects relating to the years 1940 and 2018. The model allowed for the simulation of the river flow that can occur under different rainfall probabilities. The analysis of the results was used to evaluate the hydrological models used. The hundred-year flow modeled with the Nash model for 1940 was 13.4 m3∙s−1, whereas the second model gave slightly lower flow values. In addition, modeling the flow for 2018 (after changing the land cover) highlighted the increase in the flow value for both models, where again the flow volume was slightly higher for the Nash model and amounted to about 19 m3∙s−1. The flow differences for individual models were not too large. This made it possible to conclude that the simulated outflow hydrographs are in good agreement, and this means that the models accurately reproduce the flow of the Michałówka River. The study showed that rapid urbanization adversely affects hydrological processes. In addition, the study showed that a well-distributed model can outperform a global flood forecasting model, especially in terms of magnitude, as in the current study example.
The soil resources in Kosovo are facing challenges due to different human activities. Urbanization, along with economic growth, has further worsened the shortage of soil resources in Kosovo. In the last 20 years, Kosovo has undergone some social, political and economical changes which have made the population to migrate toward plains, where new settlements are formed, and other are extended. Soil resources are important for Kosovo's inhabitants, who are mainly focused on agriculture. Most of the Kosovo's terrain is mountainous, which means nearly half of the area is not suitable for agriculture. The Sitnica River basin lies mostly in Kosovo Plain where soils are characterized by high fertility with a great potential for agricultural development. The vicinity parts of the river basin lie in the hilly mountainous areas where soils have low fertility. Good natural conditions have made the River Basin the most densely populated area in Kosovo. Rapid extension of urban and rural settlements changed the land cover; agricultural lands were excluded from primary use, and the agricultural capacity is reduced with the increasing number of settlements on lands with high quality. Sitnica River basin was faced with uncontrolled urbanization, followed by the degradation of agricultural lands and land use changes, where floods occur in some cases or the flood risk is increased. In this case study, the Sitnica River basin will be analysed based on terrain morphology, soil and other natural resources, land use changes and will be a contribution towards sustainable urbanization of settlements in order to preserve soil resources.
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