Experimental Watershed for Real Time Flow Simulation

Abstract

Availability of fresh water on the Earth is limited and is varied spatially and temporally. Therefore it is necessary to precisely estimate the availability of water resources at a particular area on a spatial and temporal basis. Watershed is the basic scientific unit for understanding the hydrological regime of an area. The advances in geospatial and soft computing methods have increased the simulation capabilities of distributed watershed models. The present study deals with the development of an experimental watershed and preparation of geospatial layers for the watershed which can be useful for estimation of the precise flow parameters on a real time basis using the distributed watershed models. Continuous in-situ measurements improve the accuracy of watershed model forecasts. For this purpose, watershed at Peechara, Warangal District, India is instrumented with rain gauge station, soil moisture recorder and digital water level recorders. Measured hydrologic data in the watershed is obtained at the institute through telemetry. Geospatial layers such as flow direction and flow accumulation are prepared for the watershed. Hydrologic data along with geospatial layers is the major input for the watershed model for real time flow simulations.