River flow simulation at Setiu Wetland using GIS technology (AVSWAT)

Abstract

SWAT model was used to simulate river flow at Setiu Wetland catchment area. Before this, river flow was measured using flow meter and as technologies expand, the new way was created to simulate river flow using various input data. This technique was widely use in United States as they measured the impact of urbanization and deforestation towards the environment especially in preventing flash flood. This study was done to simulate river flow for Setiu Wetland catchment area for year 2005. This requires the weather data at least 4 years earlier to ensure the preciseness of the result. Other data such as land cover and soil characteristics also required. The results were compared to the river flow data from Department of Drainage and Irrigation Malaysia. The comparison shows not much different between the two data with the regression equal to 0.6838. The advantage of using this software is it also capable to predict the future flow as the input data was manipulated.