SWAT Model Applications: an Overview with Emphasis on Evaluation the Impacts of Land use Changes and the best Management Practices in Watershed Scale

Authors
M. Mohammadi
A. Kavian
L. Gholami
Abstract
Nowadays one of the main concerns is quantification and evaluation the effects of surface cover and land
use changes on the watershed hydrological conditions. Lack of appropriate land use planning, leading to
soil erosion, increasing sediment yield, environmental problems and that is serious threat to sustainable
economic and social development. There are several methods to evaluate the effects of land use and land
cover changes that physical models helps to better understand the effect of these variations on watershed
hydrological processes. Integration of semi-distributed model (SWAT) with Geographic Information
System is powerful tool for assessment of current watershed conditions, predict and also simulate the effect
of management decisions on ecosystems. This paper discusses application of SWAT model to evaluating
the effects of land use and land cover change and the best management practices in many watersheds over
the world. Application of this model and other simulation models increase accuracy and reduce costs on
evaluating the land use changes effects and provides the possibility to simulate a wide range of conservation
activities in the watershed scale
Keywords
Land use and land cover change
SWAT model
Best management practice (BMP)
Geographic information system
Hydrological processes