A Semi Distributed Hydrological Model Using ArcSWAT for the Administrative Boundary Condition for Damoh District of Madhya Pradesh in Central India

Effective watershed management and sustainable development hinge on unraveling the intricate interplay between land use, climate, and hydrological processes—a cornerstone of contemporary environmental research. This study addresses this knowledge gap by developing a SWAT-based rainfall-runoff hydrological model. This model will be instrumental in elucidating the various components of the hydrological cycle within the specific study area. SWAT being a very potent tool for hydrological modeling which uses a wide variety of data to simulate watershed and can also accommodate changing climatic variable hence employed in this study. Damoh district is selected as study area which is situated on the Vindhyachal plateau in central India. The analysis revealed that out of total flow, 64% is converted into surface runoff and remaining 36% is converted as base flow. The average Curve Number value estimated for the catchment is worked out to be 86.41, indicating the surface as more impervious. Out of total precipitation, 58% flow in streams and 38% of total precipitation as loss in the form of evapotranspiration. A total of 24% of precipitation percolated in ground and 1% of total precipitation goes into deep percolation. The obtained results are indicating the need of further investigations and appropriate planning for better management of water resources.