Impact of precipitation and large scale tree planting on river flow in the Kor river watershed, southwest of Iran

3^rd International Conference on Hydrology & Meteorology

September 15-16, 2014 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Majid Soufi, Saeed Hasanshahi, Mohammad Reza Kowsari and Behrooz Abolpoor

Accepted Abstracts: Hydrol Current Res

Abstract :

Application of tree planting and declining precipitation due to climate change is a paradox for watershed managers in arid regions in the world. This research aims to determine whether precipitation and/or large scale tree planting is the dominant cause of river flow reduction in an arid watershed in the southwest of Iran. A watershed with enough rain gauge and hydrometry station was selected. Data for precipitation, river flow, temperature and evapo-transpiration were collected for 40 years. Maps for land uses including tree planting, curve number and soil hydrologic groups were produced. Softwares such as Arc GIS, Golbal Mapper, and Google Earth were used to produce maps. Eviews software was used for modeling and Man-kendall statistical method was used to show the trend of data. River flow was compared before and after tree planting. The results revealed that water production reduced after planting tree in an area about 80 sq.km. Comparison of long term data (40 years) showed that precipitation had a negative trend but comparison of similar rainfall events before and after tree planting indicated that tree planting was the main cause. Tree planting had more impact on the average flow than low and maximum. River flow reduced between 25-80% monthly and 41.2% annually. Weighted curve number of the watershed reduced after tree planting in an area about 80 sq.km but the difference was not significant statistically. The results indicated that watershed managers should be careful about the impacts of watershed programs of predicted water flow for downstream and climate change.

Biography :

Majid Soufi has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from New South Wales University, Sydney in 1997. He is the Director of Fars Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources in Shiraz, Iran. He has published more than 32 papers in reputed journals. He has more than 20 years experience on gully erosion and watershed management in arid regions.