ESTIMATION OF RAINFALL-RUNOFF FOR UMIAM WATERSHED USING

SCS-CN METHOD AND GIS TECHNIQUE

Submitted by

HAMILTON KHARBUKI
2017PGCEWR04

Under the guidance of

NIGAM PRAKASH

WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JAMSHEDPUR
JHARKHAND – 831014

2018

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 ABSTRACT

Rainfall is the primary source of water for most part of the world and
watershed acts as a collector of this water delivered in the form of rainfall.

A study of rainfall-runoff from any watershed has becoming important due to

modern civilization, where constructions of any hydrological structures need
to determine the rainfall-runoff to carry out planning and decision making.

In this study, rainfall-runoff will be estimated for Umiam watershed which is

located in East khasi hills district of Meghalaya. The area of the watershed is
302 sq-km, and it lies in the latitude ranging between 25ᵒ31’33.34”N to
25ᵒ43’10.14” N and the longitude from 91ᵒ42’56.30” E to 92ᵒ00’01.07” E. The
rainfall-runoff from this watershed is computed using the remote sensing data
and geographic information system (GIS). It also involves the use of ERDAS
IMAGINE 9.1 software to classify the land use and land cover of the watershed.
And the result is obtained by using SCS Curve Number method with the help
of remote sensing data and GIS as inputs.

Keywords: Rainfall-runoff, Curve Number, GIS, Remote sensing, Watershed

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 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
JAMSHEDPUR

CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION
This to certify that this project report entitled “Estimation of rainfall-runoff
for Umiam Watershed using SCS-CN Method and GIS Technique” submitted to
the Civil Engineering Department, National Institute of Technology
Jamshedpur in partial fulfillment for the award of Masters in Technology is a
bonafide research work carried out by me during a period of August 2018 to
December 2018 under the supervision of Nikam Prakash, Assistant Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology
Jamshedpur.

The matter embodied in this project has not been submitted to any other
university or institution for the award of any degree or diploma.

(HAMILTON KHARBUKI)
Reg. No.: 2017PGCEWR04

This to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is true and
correct to the best of my/our knowledge and belief.

Nigam Prakash
Date: Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
NIT Jamshedpur

Signature of Board of Examinee Head of the Department

Civil Engineering Department
NIT Jamshedpur

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 INDEX

Chapter number Contents Page number

ABSTRACT ii

DECLARATION iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. General 1
1.2. Obectives 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY 4

3.1. Study area 4

3.2. Data source 5
3.3. Software used 6
3.4. Methodology 6
3.4.1 SCS curve number method 6-7

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 8

4.1. Delineation of umiam 8

watershed
4.2. Land use and land cover 9-10
4.3. Soil map 11
4.4. Curve number 12
4.5. Rainfall-runoff 12-13
4.6. Conclusion 13

CHAPTER 5: REFERENCES 14

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 CHAPTER – 1
INRODUCTION
1.1.General
Water is one of our most precious natural resources. No living beings on earth
can survive without it. It needs to be conserved wisely through watershed
management.

Watershed plays the most vital role in the hydrologic cycle; it is defined as the
area which covers all the land that drains rainfall runoff to a common point.
The characteristics of the watershed greatly influence the runoff and the
hydrologic cycle as a whole. Precipitation, soil types, land use and land cover
are the main factors that influence the runoff in a watershed.

Rainfall runoff which is a part of the water cycle includes surface runoff, sub-
surface runoff and base flow depending upon the time delay between the
instance of rainfall and generation of runoff. Rainfall runoff is an important
part that influences the design of hydrological structures and morphology of
the drainage system.

Estimation of rainfall runoff is very important as it is the most important

hydrologic variables. But accurate estimation of rainfall runoff is highly
complex as it involves many factors which exhibit temporal and spatial
variability. There are many methods for computing rainfall runoff and SCS
Curve number method is one of the simplest and widely used methods.

Also, the use of remote sensing and geographic information system has
alleviated the problem over conventional method in data collecting and
interpreting.

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1.2.Objectives

The main objective of the study is to estimate the rainfall-runoff from the
Umiam watershed with remote sensing data as inputs. The specific objectives
are listed below

 To delineate the Umiam watershed.

 To study the soil type, land use and land cover of the watershed.
 To calculate the curve number and compute the hydrological soil
group and antecedent moisture condition based on the characteristic
of watershed and occurrence of rainfall.
 To compare the Rainfall-runoff from the extreme One-day
precipitation events occurred in the year 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2007.

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 CHAPTER – 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Various literatures pertaining to the use of SCS-CN method and GIS for
estimation of rainfall-runoff are summarized in this section.

Ashish Pandey et al., (2003)[1] In this study SCS-CN method and GIS was
used as a methodology to determine the Runoff for Karso watershed. And they
found that this approach could be used in other Indian watersheds for
planning of various conservation measures

Melenti Ioana Laura et al., (2011)[2] In this study SCS-CN method was
carried out to estimate the surface runoff for Rosia Poieni mining area with
heavy soil erosion and it was found successful.

K. X. Soulis and J. D. Valiantzas (2012)[3] The study indicates that CN

determination methodology provides superior runoff predictions in most
cases and extends the applicability of the SCS-CN method for a wider range of
rainfall depths in heterogeneous watersheds.

Tripathi et al., (2012)[4] They studied on runoff modeling for small

watershed using remote sensing data and GIS. And from the study it was
found out that Digital Elevation Model could be used to derive various kind of
information about the morphology of the catchment area by means of
algorithms in raster processing system.

H.J.Ningaraju et al., (2016)[5] In this study SCS-CN method and GIS was
used to estimate the rainfall-runoff and the results they obtained clearly
shows that there is a variation in runoff potential with different land use/land
cover and with different soil conditions

S. Satheeshkumar et al.,(2017)[6] This study concluded that Soil

Conversations Service –Curve Number approach has proven to be a better
method, which consumes less time and facility to handle extensive data set as
well as larger environmental area to identify site selection of artificial
recharge structures.

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 CHAPTER – 3
MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY
3.1.Study area

The Umiam River is located in East Khasi hill and RI-Bhoi District of
Meghalaya. The river drains into the mighty Brahmaputra River by connecting
with the Kupli River. The area of the Umiam river basin is 302 km2. The basin
has a wide range of topography with elevation varying between 890 m and
1951 m above mean sea level and it is situated between the longitudes of
91ᵒ42’56.30” E to 92ᵒ00’01.07” E and latitudes of 25ᵒ31’33.34” N to
25ᵒ43’10.14” N. Most part of the watershed is covered with forest and
agricultural land.

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 Fig: Location of study area

3.2.Data source

ASTER GLOBAL DEM of 30 m resolution is obtained from U.S Geological

Survey for delineating the watershed. Landsat imagery of 30 m resolution is
also obtained from U.S.G.S, for the purpose of classifying land use and land
cover of the watershed.

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3.3.Software used

ARCGIS 10.5 software was used for delineation of watershed. QGIS 2.18
software was used for pre-processing of landsat image and ERDAS IMAGINE
2015 was used for classification the land use and land cover of the watershe.

3.4.Methodology

In this study, ARCGIS 10.5 and ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 was used to prepare
various thematic maps such as drainage map, contour map, flow direction
map, watershed delineation map, land use and land cover map. Soil map was
also procured from world soil information. And finally estimation of the daily
rainfall-runoff is obtained by using SCS-CN method with precipitation, lulc
map and soil group as inputs.

3.4.1.SCS Curve Number Method

SCS-CN method was developed in 1972 by the U.S Department of Agriculture.

It is the most common and widely used method for estimation of rainfall-
runoff from a watershed. This method used curve number as the coefficient of
the watershed, in which this curve number is derived by considering the
hydrological soil group and land use of the watershed.

According to Soil Conservation Service curve number varies from 0 to 100,

and this curve number is directly proportional to the runoff. Below formula is
used by this SCS-CN method for calculating the runoff;

2
(P−0.3S)
Pe =
P+0.7S

Where Pe – depth of excess precipitation

P – depth of precipitation
And S – potential maximum retention of the soil

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The equation for determining S is given as
25400
S= − 254
CN

Where S – Maximum retention of the soil in mm

and CN – Curve number

In order to get the curve number (CN) the watershed has been classified into
different groups based on their land use and soil type was also taken into
account for selection of hydrological soil group.

Depending upon the antecedent moisture conditions, three equations are

given for finding the curve number.

For normal antecedent moisture condition (AMC II),

25400
CN(II) =
254+S

For dry antecedent moisture condition (AMC I),

CN(II)
CN(I) =
2.3−0.013CN(II)

For wet antecedent moisture condition (AMC II),

CN(II)
CN(III) =
0.43+0.0057CN(II)

Where, CN(I) - Curve number for dry condition

CN(II) - Curve number for normal condition
And CN(III) - Curve number for wet condition

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 CHAPTER – 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1.Delineation of Umiam watershed

In order to perform morphometrics analysis Umiam watershed has been

delineated by using ASTER GLOBAL DEM of 30 m resolution and it has been
processed in ARCGIS 10.5 software. The total area of the watershed obtained
is 302 km2.

Fig: Umiam watershed

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4.2.Land use and land cover

Land use and land cover of the watershed has been classified for the
generation of curve number using supervised classification in ERDAS
IMAGINE 20015 and it was classified into five classes namely Water (1.743%),
Forest (39.576%), Grassland (13.169%), Agricultural land (37.593%) and
Settlement area (8.144%).

Table: Land use/land cover classification of Umiam watershed

Sl.no Classes Area(km2) Percentage

(%)
1 Water 5.2632 1.743
2 Forest 119.52 39.576
3 Grassland 39.7701 13.169
4 Agricultural land 113.531 37.593
5 Settlement area 24.5934 8.144

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Fig: Land use and land cover classifications

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4.3.Soil map

The soil present in Umiam watershed is clay loams, which falls under the
hydrological soil group ‘B’. And the soil map was prepared as under.

Fig: Soil Map

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4.4.Curve number

The determination of the curve number for sub watershed was based on the
USDA curve number (Tripathi, 1999) modified for Indian conditions.
The weighted curve number was calculated as shown in the table below.

Table: Weighted curve number

Hydrological soil
group ‘B’

Land Use % CN Product

Settlement 8.28 86 712.08
Forest 40.24 40 1609.6
Grassland 13.39 69 923.91
Agricultural land 38.23 74 2829.02
6074.61

The weighted curve number (CN) of the watershed is 60.7 and the maximum
retention (S) of the watershed comes to be 164.45 mm.

4.5.Rainfall-runoff

The rainfall-runoff from the extreme one-day precipitation events of the year
2001, 2004, 2005 and 2007 are tabulated as under

Sl.no Rainfall (in mm) Area(km2) Date and year Discharge(m3)

1 223.4 297 29/07/2001 26581500
2 262 297 08/10/2004 35618422
3 44.3 297 29/03/2005 47230
4 138.2 297 16/11/2007 9258849

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 24-h RAINFALL AND RUNOFF
80000000

70000000
Amount in m3

60000000

50000000
40000000
30000000
20000000
RAINFALL
10000000 RAINFALL- RUNOFF
0

Date and year

Fig: shows the 24-h rainfall and runoff for Umiam watershed.

4.6.Conclusion

SCS-CN method and geographic information system is a very powerful tool to

use for estimating the rainfall-runoff. In this study the composite curve
number of the watershed is found to be 60.7, and based on the results
obtained the quantity of runoff greatly varied upon the land use and land
cover of the watershed. Futhermore, it can be concluded that watershed
development planning can be made possible with the help of remote sensing,
GIS and SCS-CN model.

FUTURE SCOPE:

 This technique can be used for characterization of micro watershed.

 Finding alternate land use planning for barren areas to control runoff
and resist soil erosion.

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 CHAPTER – 5
REFERENCES
1. Ashish Pandey et al., (2003) “Estimation of runoff for agricultural
watershed using SCS Curve Number and Geographic Information
System”.
2. Melenti Ioana Laura et al.,(2011) “Soil Conservation Service Curve
Number Method for Surface Runoff Estimation Using GIS Techniques,
in Rosia Poieni Mining Area (Romania)”.
3. K. X. Soulis and J. D. Valiantzas(2012) “SCS-CN parameter
determination using rainfall-runoff data in heterogeneous watersheds –
the two-CN system approach”.
4. H.J.Ningaraju et al.,(2016) “Estimation of Runoff Using SCS-CN and GIS
method in ungauged watershed: A case study of Kharadya mill
watershed, India”.
5. W Gumindoga et al.,(2016) “Estimating runoff from ungauged
catchments for reservoir water balance in the Lower Middle Zambezi
Basin”.
6. Markynti Swer et al.,(2017) “Trend and Variability of Rainfall: A Case
Study of Shillong City”.
7. S. Satheeshkumar et al.,(2017) “Rainfall–runoff estimation using SCS–
CN and GIS approach in the Pappiredipatti watershed of the Vaniyar sub
basin, South India”.

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