Prioritization of Soil Loss at Sub-catchment Level Using SWAT Model in Kesinga Catchment, Mahanadi River, India

Abstract

The study uses the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) to identify the hot spots of erosion in the Kesinga watershed in India. The model was calibrated and validated using data from 2000–2016 to 2017–2020. The results show that 40.2% of watersheds are identified as hot soil erosion regions, with 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 21, 24 and 27 basins with high erosion levels from the ground. These results are crucial for planners and resource managers, providing information on immediate and long-term planning of water resources. The study focuses on the Kesinga watershed, which is mainly agricultural and has the use of mainly agricultural land. The SWAT model accurately reproduces the discharge and monthly sediment models, showing a satisfactory agreement between the observed and simulated discharge results. The model also shows high performance in sediment yield simulations, with R² values of 0.7 and 0.8 for calibration and validation periods. The study also created a soil losses map, revealing 40.2% of the significant soil loss watershed.