Hydrologic modeling of Sondu river basin in Kenya using SWAT
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abstract
Several parts of Africa are affected by extreme climatic conditions leading to frequent drought and famine. Proper management of the limited water resources is important for sustainable water supply for domestic and agricultural needs in Africa and also to minimize the environmental impacts of human activities on water resources. Hydrologic/water quality models are useful to simulate the hydrologic processes in a watershed to assess available water resources and to plan for proper management. Long term simulations in large river basins require continuous time, distributed parameter models having large input data requirements. Availability of such detailed input data is very limited outside the United States. In this study, an attempt was made to model the hydrology of Sondu river basin in Kenya using the continuous time hydrologic/water quality model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). This river drains an area of 3050 km 2 into Lake Victoria. Data from only one weather station was available. A single soil was used for entire river basin. Streamflow and sediment outflow from the river basin were simulated for the period 1978-97. Results indicate large spatial variability in rainfall and soil parameters and point to the need for additional data collection efforts. Long term simulated means and standard deviations compared reasonably well with the observed streamflow data. Availability of detailed input data for hydrologic models is the major problem for assessing available water resources in African river basins. Detailed data collection efforts are inevitable for Sustainable management of water resources in Africa in the 21st century.
