Erosion and Water Resources Assessment in the Upper Inabanga Watershed, Philippines: Application of Wepp and Gis Tools
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EROSION AND WATER RESOURCES ASSESSMENT IN THE UPPER INABANGA WATERSHED, PHILIPPINES: APPLICATION OF WEPP AND GIS TOOLS BY IMELIDA C. GENSON (BSc Ag Eng) A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) WATER RESEARCH LABORATORY SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY HAWKESBURY CAMPUS, RICHMOND, NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA JULY 2006 © IMELIDA C. GENSON 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to individuals and groups for taking part in the success of this undertaking: To the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) through the John Allwright Fellowship for the financial support extended; To my government through the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) for the official leave of absence permitted; To my supervisors, Associate Professor John Bavor, Dr. Anthony Haigh and Dr. Berthold Rembertus Hennecke for their support and guidance; Special thanks and recognition to the efforts of Dr. Willie Joshua for his help and the fruitful discussions during the writing of this thesis; Sincere appreciation to Bronwyn Davies for taking time to edit this report; And to the field staff of the Watershed Project Bohol, Philippines for providing the data. DEDICATION This piece of work is dedicated to my family: Papa & Mama and to my eight brothers and three sisters. Also, I wish to dedicate this work to my friend Prasan Sharp for her unselfish support and encouragement. And, to the Carty Family (Michael, Vicky and Phillip) who adopted me into their family. Thanks for providing a warmth environment of being homed away from home. For all these blessings, to God be the glory. STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or institution and, to the best of the author’s knowledge and belief, contains no material previously written or published by another author except when due reference is made in the text. __ ______ Imelida C. Genson Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ……………….. iv LIST OF FIGURES ……………….. vi LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ……………….. viii ABSTRACT ……………….. ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ……………….. 1 1.1 Introduction ……………….. 1 1.2 The Philippine uplands ……………….. 1 1.3 The Bohol Watershed Project ……………….. 2 1.4 Aims ……………….. 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The integrated watershed approach of resources management ……………….. 6 2.2 Erosion processes ……………….. 8 2.3 Factors of erosion modeling ……………….. 9 2.3.1 Rainfall ……………….. 10 2.3.2 Soil properties ……………….. 11 2.3.3 Surface cover and cropping practices ……………….. 12 2.3.4 Topography ……………….. 13 2.4 Erosion modeling ……………….. 13 2.4.1 USLE model ……………….. 15 2.4.2 WEPP model ……………….. 16 2.4.2.1 Hillslope erosion component ……………….. 17 2.4.2.2 Hillslope surface hydrology ……………….. 19 2.4.2.3 Water balance and percolation ……………….. 19 2.4.2.4 Subsurface hydrology ……………….. 19 2.4.2.5 Soil component ……………….. 19 2.4.2.6 Plant growth component ……………….. 19 2.4.2.7 Climate component ……………….. 20 2.4.2.8 Residue decomposition ……………….. 20 2.5 Estimates of erosion at a plot and watershed scale ……………….. 20 2.6 Erosion studies in the Philippines ……………….. 21 2.6.1 Plot scale ……………….. 21 2.6.2 Watershed scale ……………….. 23 2.7 Erosion models and GIS ……………….. 24 i 2.7 GIS application in watershed management ……………….. 26 CHAPTER 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS 3.1 The study area ……………….. 28 3.2 On-site assessment of soil loss and runoff ……………….. 29 3.2.1 The runoff plots ……………….. 30 3.2.1.1 Agroforestry ……………….. 32 3.2.1.2 Cassava/corn ……………….. 32 3.2.1.3 Forest ……………….. 32 3.2.1.4 Grassland ……………….. 33 3.2.1.5 Oil palm ……………….. 33 3.2.2 Watershed measurement of flow ……………….. 33 3.2.3 Climate ……………….. 34 3.2.3.1 Rainfall erosivity ……………….. 35 3.3 Computer simulations ……………….. 35 3.3.1 Inputs for WEPP and GeoWEPP ……………….. 35 3.3.1.1 Climate file ……………….. 35 3.3.1.2 Slope file ……………….. 36 3.3.1.3 Soils input file and soil map ……………….. 37 3.3.1.4 Crop management file and land cover map ……………….. 37 3.3.2 Scenarios ……………….. 38 3.3.2.1 Hillslope application ……………….. 38 3.3.2.2 Watershed application ……………….. 40 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 On-site measurements ……………….. 42 4.1.1 Experimental runoff plots and rain gauges ……………….. 42 4.1.1.1 Weekly rainfall from the local rain gauges ……………….. 42 4.1.1.2 Weekly rainfall >60 mm ……………….. 44 Weekly rainfall-runoff from the experimental 4.1.1.3 runoff plots ……………….. 44 Weekly rainfall-soil loss from the experimental 4.1.1.4 runoff plots ……………….. 47 4.1.1.5 Totall rainfall, runoff and soil loss ……………….. 49 4.1.1.6 High erosion week ……………….. 51 4.1.2 Rainfall erosivity analysis ……………….. 52 4.1.2.1 Rainfall erosivity and soil loss ……………….. 54 4.1.3 Watershed measurement of flow ……………….. 56 4.1.3.1 Land cover and slope ……………….. 57 4.1.3.2 Rainfall and discharge curves ……………….. 58 ii 4.1.3.3 Suspended sediment concentration ……………….. 59 4.1.4 Summary of the on-site measurement of erosion ……………….. 61 4.2 Application of WEPP and GeoWEPP erosion models ……………….. 61 4.2.1 Erosion assessment at farm level ……………….. 62 4.2.1.1 Increasing slope ……………….. 63 4.2.1.2 Effects of terracing ……………….. 63 4.2.1.3 Additional terrace ……………….. 63 4.2.1.4 Grass strips ……………….. 64 4.2.1.5 Soil loss graph and deposition points ……………….. 64 4.2.1.6 Multiple flow simulations ……………….. 68 4.2.2 Erosion hazard assessment in the Bugsok Subwatershed ……………….. 70 4.2.2.1 Existing land use conditions ……………….. 72 4.2.2.2 Agriculture ≤ 18% slope> forest ……………….. 73 4.2.2.3 Application to land use planning ……………….. 75 CHAPTER 5. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary ……………….. 76 5.2 Overall Conclusions ……………….. 81 5.3 Recommendations ……………….. 82 REFERENCES ……………….. 84 APPENDICES ……………….. 90 iii LIST OF TABLES Some erosion rates at plot level extracted from Table 2.1 ………….. 22 different studies conducted in the Philippines Selected watersheds and sediment yield in the island Table 2.2 ………….. 23 of Mindoro, 1984 (David 1988) Landcover types and the area of the runoff plots used in the Table 3.1 field monitoring of soil loss and runoff. These land cover ………….. 30 types represent the major vegetation in the area. Crop parameters and management files taken from WEPP Table 3.2 and GeoWEPP databases (USDA-ARS, 1995) and used in ………….. 38 simulations Scenarios for the hillslope application of WEPP on steep Table 3.3 ………….. 39 slopes cropped with corn. Land use scenarios for WEPP watershed application using Table 3.4 ………….. 41 the Bugsok AWaS catchment area. Percentage contribution of soil loss above 60-mm weekly Table 4.1 rainfall to total soil loss from each experimental runoff ………….. 44 plot. Week with highest soil loss contribution to the total soil Table 4.2 loss collected within 98 weeks including the respective ………….. 51 runoff and rainfall amounts. Land cover distribution of the Bugsok and Pamacsalan Table 4.3 ………….. 57 Subwatersheds based on March 2002 Landsat-7 ETM+. Slope distribution within Bugsok and Pamacsalan Table 4.4 Subwatersheds derived using ArcGIS 9 from a 30-m DEM ………….. 58 and classified according to BSWM cclassification criteria WEPP simulation of soil, sediment and runoff for non- Table 4.5 ………….. 65 terraced and terraced conditions under different slopes Percent decrease in soil loss, sediment yield and runoff Table 4.6 resulting from the use of one and two 1-m terraces relative ………….. 66 to a no-terrace condition Percent decrease in soil loss, sediment yield and runoff Table 4.7 when terraces were replaced with grass strips relative to ………….. 67 no-terrace conditions. Location of starting points of deposition and soil loss from Table 4.8 ………….. 69 the topmost part of the hillslope as determined by WEPP iv simulation On-site effects of land use change predicted by WEPP- Table 4.9 GeoWEPP and presented as percentage distribution of soil ………….. 70 loss under different land cover scenarios Simulation results of Scenario A representing the area (in percent) occupied by each land cover type classified under Table 4.10 ………….. 72 tolerable and non-tolerable soil loss rates and further classified using the 18% slope criteria. Off-site effects of land use changes predicted by WEPP- Table 4.11 ………….. 74 GeoWEPP model under each land use scenario v LIST OF FIGURES Location of the Bohol Watershed Project. Inset is the Figure 1.1 ………….. 3 map of the Philippines and the location of Bohol Island The conceptual components of the Water Erosion Figure 2.1 ………….. 17 Prediction (WEPP) erosion model Figure 3.1 Geographic location of the Upper Inabanga Watershed ………….. 29 Location of seven runoff plots, two Automatic Water Samplers (AWaS), two Automatic Weather Stations Figure 3.2 ………….. 30 (AWeS) and three rain gauges in the Upper Inabanga Watershed. Field set up of runoff plots for monitoring soil loss and runoff under the forest land cover type. The galvanized Figure 3.3 ………….. 31 iron sheeting at the bottom part of the plots is secured on concrete lining. Location of an Automatic Water Sampler (AWaS) along a stream. The pipeline provides a guide and an anchorage for the bubbler tube that was placed at the Figure 3.4 ………….. 34 bottom of the stream. The instrument was placed inside a metal casing and secured in one place on a concrete foundation. Modification of hillslope topography to effect terracing: Figure 3.5 (a) no terrace (b) one terrace at the bottom of hillslope, ………….. 39 and (c) two terraces Schematic diagram of overland flow elements for the Figure 3.6 ………….