Author(s)

Mohammad E. Mohammad¹, Nadhir Al-Ansari^2*, Sven Knutsson²

¹Department of Dams and Water Resources Engineering, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq.
²Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.

Estimation of runoff volume and sediment load is the main problem that affects the performance of dams due to the reduction in the storage capacity of their reservoirs and their effect on dam efficiency and operation schedule. The simulation models can be considered for this purpose if the continuous field measurements are not available. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) models were applied to estimate the annual runoff volume and sediment load for Duhok Dam Reservoir in north of Duhok/Iraq for the period 1988-2011. The estimated annual runoff volume varied from 2.3 to 34.7 MCM for considered period. Those values were affected by rainfall depth, intensity and runoff coefficient. The resultant annual runoff coefficient for the studied area ranged from 0.05 to 0.35 (average was 0.18) causing an average runoff volume of about 14 MCM. The results of sediment routing indicated that the values of sediment yields varied from 50 to 1400 t/km2/year depending on sub basin properties. The average annual sediment load from the whole watershed is about 120 × 10³ ton. The estimated total sediment arrived to Duhok Reservoir for the considered period 1988-2011 was about 2.9 × 10⁶ ton. The results indicate that both models gave reasonable results in comparison with measured values. Based on statistical criteria, the results of both models are close to gather.

Annual Runoff, Annual Sediments, Duhok Dam, SWAT Model, WEPP Model

Mohammad, M. , Al-Ansari, N. and Knutsson, S. (2016) Annual Runoff and Sediment in Duhok Reservoir Watershed Using SWAT and WEPP Models. Engineering, 8, 410-422. doi: 10.4236/eng.2016.87038.