Abstract
Although the dominant land use at the Imha-dam watershed is forest areas, soil erosion has been increasing because of intensive agricultural activities performed at the fields located along the stream for easy-access to water supply and relatively favorable topography. In addition, steep topography at the Imha-dam watershed is also contributing increased soil erosion and sediment loads. At the Imha-dam watershed, outflow has increased sharply by the typhoons Rusa and Maemi in 2002, 2003 respectively. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was evaluated for simulation of flow and sediment behaviors with long-term temporal and spatial conditions. The precipitation data from eight precipitation observatories, located at Ilwol, Subi and etc., were used. There was no significant difference in monthly rainfall for 8 locations. However, there was slight differences in rainfall amounts and patterns in 2003 and 2004. The topographical map at 1:5000 scale from the National Geographic Information Institute was used to define watershed boundaries, the detailed soil map at 1:25,000 scale from the National Institute of Highland Agriculture and the land cover data from the Korea Institute of Water and Environment were used to simulate the hydrologic response and soil erosion and sediment behaviors. To evaluate hydrologic component of the SWAT model, calibration was performed for the period from Jan. 2002 to Dec. 2003, and validation for Jan. 2004 to Apr. 2005. The $R^2$ value and El value were 0.93 and 0.90 respectively for calibration period, and the $R^2$ value and El value for validation were 0.73 and 0.68 respectively. The $R^2$ value and El value of sediment yield data with the calibrated parameters was 0.89 and 0.84 respectively. The comparisons with the measured data showed that the SWAT model is applicable to simulate hydrology and sediment behaviors at Imha dam watershed. With proper representation of the Best Management Practices (BM Ps) in the SWAT model, the SWAT can be used for pre-evaluation of the cost-effective and sustainable soil erosion BMPs to solve sediment issues at the Imha-dam watershed. In Korea, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) has been used to estimate the soil loss for over 30 years. However, there are limitations in the field scale mdel, USLE when applied for watershed. Also, the soil loss changes temporarily and spatially, for example, the Imha-dam watershed. Thus, the SW AT model, capable of simulating hydrologic and soil erosion/sediment behaviors temporarily and spatially at watershed scale, should be used to solve the muddy water issues at the Imha-dam watershed to establish more effective muddy water reduction countermeasure.
