Evaluating Hydrologic Response of an Agricultural Watershed for Watershed Analysis.docVIP

Water 2011, 3, 604-617; doi:10.3390/w3020604 OPEN ACCESS water ISSN 2073-4441 /journal/water Article Evaluating Hydrologic Response of an Agricultural Watershed for Watershed Analysis Manoj Kumar Jha Civil Engineering Department, North Carolina AT State University, 1601 E. Market St., Greensboro, NC 27410, USA; E-Mail: mkjha@; Tel.: +1-336-334-7575; Fax: +1-336-334-7126. Received: 6 April 2011; in revised form: 1 May 2011 / Accepted: 23 May 2011 / Published: 3 June 2011 Abstract: This paper describes the hydrological assessment of an agricultural watershed in the Midwestern United States through the use of a watershed scale hydrologic model. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied to the Maquoketa River watershed, located in northeast Iowa, draining an agriculture intensive area of about 5,000 km2. The inputs to the model were obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency’s geographic information/database system called Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS). Meteorological input, including precipitation and temperature from six weather stations located in and around the watershed, and measured streamflow data at the watershed outlet, were used in the simulation. A sensitivity analysis was performed using an influence coefficient method to evaluate surface runoff and baseflow variations in response to changes in model input hydrologic parameters. The curve number, evaporation compensation factor, and soil available water capacity were found to be the most sensitive parameters among eight selected parameters. Model calibration, facilitated by the sensitivity analysis, was performed for the period 1988 through 1993, and validation was performed for 1982 through 1987. The model was found to explain at least 86% and 69% of the variability i