The Effect of Deforestation on Sediment in the Upper River Basin of the Lam Phra Phloeng Reservoir, Thailand

Abstract

Land use in the upper river basin of the Lam Phra Phloeng reservoir, especially the forested area has mainly been for agricultural and residential purposes. The area suffers periodically from floods and droughts. Increased erosion since forest clearance has led to the increase of sediment load in rivers draining into the reservoir. As a result, sediment deposition in the reservoir gradually decreased the water storage capacity from 150 million m3 in 1970 to 108 million m3 in 2014. The objective of this study is to estimate the sediment loaded to the Lam Phra Phloeng reservoir based on the 10% and 25% deforestation using SWAT Model. SWAT is hydrological model which continuously simulate time model and operates on a daily time step at basin scale. The land use map on 2008 and the weather data during January 1981 to March 2010 were computed to simulate the monthly sediment. The results for land use for 10, 20, 50 and 100 year period are provided. If there is 10% deforestation, the accumulated annual sediment at the rainfall return period 10, 20, 50 and 100 year consist of 17.15, 18.33, 21.90 and 31.50 tons/ha, respectively. Also, for the 25% deforest, they are 36.08, 38.12, 45.53 and 65.81 tons/ha at the rainfall return period 10, 20, 50 and 100 year respectively. Keywords: Deforestation, Erosion, Sediment, SWAT model, Reservoir

Save as a Favourite

Author Information
Preeyaphorn Kosa, Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand
Thanutch Sukwimolseree, Kasetsart University, Thailand
Phattaraporn Sangthong, Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand

• Category: Environmental Sustainability and Environmental Management: Land Use and Misuse

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

All Posts