Hydrological Study of Watersheds Arid and Semi-Arid South-Eastern Algeria (Chott Melghir, Chott El Hodna and Highlands Constantine)

Fares Belagoune, Djamel Boutoutaou

Laboratoire d’Exploitation et de Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles en Zones Arides Université d’Ouargla, Ouargla, Algeria.
Magister in Hydraulic Sciences, University of Ouargla, Ouargla, Algeria.

DOI: 10.4236/ijg.2013.410145                

Abstract

The objective of the study is to establish the hydrological characteristics, the hydrological behavior of river basins in arid and semi-arid south-eastern Algeria (establish of methodologies and necessary working tools for planning the development and management of water resources). The study on floods in Algeria is established by the National Agency of Water Resources (ANRH shows that the country is confronted with the phenomenon of very destructive floods and floods especially in arid and semi-arid regions). Flooding of rivers in these areas is less known. They are characterized by their sudden duration (rain showers, thunderstorm). The duration of the flood is in the order of minutes to hours. The human and material damages caused by these floods are still high. The study area encompasses three watersheds in semi-arid, arid south and Algeria. There are pools of Chott-Melghir (68,751 km²), highland Constantine-07 (9578 km²) and El Hodna-05 basin (25,843 km²). The total area of this zone is about 104,500km². Studies of protection against floods and design studies of hydraulic structures (spillway, storm basin, etc.) require the raw data which are often unknown in several places particularly at ungauged wadis of these areas.

Keywords

Flood; Watershed; Specific Flow; Coefficient of Variation; Arid

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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