Investigation of Surface Runoff of Plasjan River Using WetSpa Hydrological Model

In recent decades, water scarcity has become a global problem due to the growth of the world's population as well as the increase in per capita water consumption. Therefore, planning and managing water resources to prevent potential risks such as floods and drought in the future is one of the important measures of water resources management. One of the important measures to avoid potential risks and predict the future is rainfall-runoff modeling. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the WetSpa hydrological model in estimating surface runoff in the Eskandari watershed, which is one of the important sub-basins of the Zayandehrood watershed. In this study, Daran and Fereydunshahr synoptic stations have been used to collect meteorological information in the Eskandari watershed. Also, to study the flow of the Plasjan river, daily data of Eskandari hydrometric station, located at the outlet of the basin, have been used. Climatic data along with digital maps of altitude, soil texture, and land use were entered as input to the WetSpa model. Finally, the ability of the WetSpa model was evaluated in estimating river surface runoff. The observed flow at the basin outlet in the hydrometric station was used to evaluate and calibrate the model. The model was calibrated for the statistical period (1992-2000) and its validation was performed for the statistical period (2001-2004). In the calibration period, the trial and error method were used to calibrate the model parameters. The simulation results showed a good correlation between the simulated flow and the measured flow. In the present study, the Nash Sutcliffe coefficient in the calibration and validation stages was equal to 0.73 and 0.75, respectively which shows the good and acceptable ability of the model in estimating the surface runoff of the study basin.