Abstract:
The Kerteh River catchment area located at the South of Kuala Terengganu with total
area of 275 km
2
• Like all river beds, Kerteh River also undergone continuously changing
due to the influence of natural phenomena and anthropogenic features nearby which
imposed the river and its flow. The SWAT model is a potential useful tool for operation
and water/land management studies. It is used to predict the impact of land management
practices on water flow. SPOT-5 satellite image was used for land cover mapping
processes and seven types of land cover were determined for the catchment area. The
SWAT model was simulated using 11 years of weather input data which from year 2000
to 2010. Total of 42 Sub-basins were created from the SWAT model and only Sub-basin
41 and Sub-basin 42 are considered in this study. The simulation result from SWAT for
river flow was being compared to the in-situ river flow data after that. From the
correlation of coefficient analysis, there were strong relationship between In-situ data and
simulation data from A VS WAT for both Sub-basin 41 and Sub-basin 42. The value of R
for both Sub-basin 41 and Sub-basin 42 are 0.9047 and 0.8867 respectively. Correlation
greater than 0.8 means the river flow rates and volume of river flow out show significant
correlation between them. Thus, river flow simulation model of Kerteh River catchment
area has been successfully created and the SWAT model can be reliably used to model
stream flow.
