Curve Number Applications for Restoration the Zarqa River Basin

Maisa’a W. Shammout, Muhammad Shatanawi and Jim Nelson
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Maisa’a W. Shammout: Water, Energy and Environment Center, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Muhammad Shatanawi: Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Jim Nelson: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: The great demand for water resources from the Zarqa River Basin (ZRB) has resulted in a base-flow reduction of the River from 5 m 3 /s to less than 1 m 3 /s. This paper aims to predict Curve Numbers (CNs) as a baseline scenario and propose restoration scenarios for the ZRB. The method includes classifying the soil type and land use, predicting CNs, and proposing CN restoration scenarios. The prediction of existing CNs will be in parallel with the runoff prediction by using the US Army Corps of Engineers HEC-1 Model, and the Rainfall–Runoff Model (RRM). The models have been set up at the land use distribution of 0.3% water body, 9.3% forest and orchard, 71% mixture of grass, weeds, and desert shrubs, 7.0% crops, 4.0% urban areas, and 8.4% bare soil. The results show that CNs are 59, 78 and 89 under dry, normal and wet conditions, respectively. During the vegetation period, CNs are 52, 72 and 86 for dry, normal and wet conditions respectively. The restoration scenarios include how CNs decrease the runoff and increase the soil moisture when using the contours, terraces and crop residues. Analyzing the results of CN scenarios will be a fundamental tool in achieving watershed restoration targets.

Keywords: water scarcity; watershed restoration; land use distribution; soil type; curve number; Zarqa River’s flow simulation; end-users (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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