Objectives :

1.To outline a suitable catchment area for a point of one of the rivers of your
topographic map and find the discharge at that point.

2. To classify the catchment area under Land Capability Class.

Procedure :

* Catchment Area

First of all, in order to calculate the discharge of a river at certain point, we have
to analyze the catchment area contributing to that point of the river. Few things
are to be considered while outlining catchment area for a point. Some of them
are pointed below:

- Trace the watercourse from its source to its mouth, including the tributaries.

- Catchment line almost always cuts contour lines at 90 degrees.

- It never cuts streamline of another point/

- It always passes through spot height and hence through ridge line.

- Ridge line mostly passes through foot trails but in some cases foot trails pass
through village as well. We have to be careful while following the foot trails.

There are various methods of calculating area of the catchment. Few of them are:

1. Manual method

- In this method, we trace the catchment area in tracing graph paper. Then we
count the number of full and half square boxes covered by the area. By analyzing
the scale of the topo map and the graph paper, we evaluate the area of the
catchment area. For perimeter and length of channel, we use thread to cover the
line and then measure the thread required using ruler.
2. Digital/Autocad method

- Here, we download the topo map of the required region in digital format. Topo
maps of Nepal and other South Asian regions can be downloaded from
www.pahar.in. Then we import the map (photo) into autoCAD and caliber the
scale of autoCAD the same as the scale of actual topo map. Catchment area and
line from farthest point of source to the final point is drawn in the map with
polyline tool. Area, perimeter and length is then calculated digitally using the
measure tool.

3. Google Earth Pro

- First we locate our site in google earth pro. Then we out draw the catchment
area in the software using polygon tool. Area, perimeter and length of channel is
calculated using the measure tool within the software. I personally felt that this
method is the most reliable method of analyzing catchment area because this
software gave me a clear visualization of my catchment area. The actual
topography of the area, ridge lines, nature of area could be seen from aerial view
which helped me draw the catchment area more accurately.

4. ArcGIS

- ArcGIS is also a professional software which can be used to find area and other
parameters of our catchment area. The brighter side of this software is that it
traces out the catchment area for you by itself. That is why, all professionals
recommend and use this method over other methods.

My site lies in Bhorletar region of Nepal. It is near to Pokhara Lekhnath

Metropolitan City. the topo map of the site is labelled as Sheet No. 2884 13B. I
chose a point having longitude and latitude approximately 28°9'30" and 84°13'00"
respectively. I used manual method, AutoCAD method and Google Earth Pro
method to calculate area, perimeter and length of channel of the catchment area.
The results are tabulated down below:
Method Area(sq.km.) Perimeter(km) Length of
channel (Lc;
km)
Manual 11.5 15.5 6.1
Autocad 11.6471 15.6645 6.0298
Google Earth 11.55 15.60 6.1
Pro

Of all the above mentioned methods, I found the Google Earth Pro method the
best. So, I decided to take the values of area, perimeter and length of channel
from that method.

Area = 11.55 sq. km. = 1155 hectares

Perimeter = 15.6km

Length of channel(Lc) = 6.1km

* Discharge Calculation:

1. Rational method

- The Rational equation is the simplest method to determine peak discharge from
drainage basin runoff. Rational Equation is written as: Q=ciA/360
The Rational equation requires the following units:
Q = Peak discharge, cubic meter per second
c = Rational method runoff coefficient
i = Rainfall intensity, mm/hour
A = Drainage area, hectares
Here, c; runoff coefficient depends upon the nature of the material on which the
water runs off. Its value alters depending on whether the surface is grassland,
forest, concrete etc.

For forest area we take value of c as 0.6.

The rainfall intensity can be calculated from following formula :

i=kTa/(t+b)n

where T= return period , in years

t= time of concentreation, In hrs

k,a,b and n are constants

for Nepal, k=5.914, a=0.1623,b=0.5,n=1.0127

the time of concentration can be calculated from various formulae of which I

found Kirpich’s equation to be appropriate.

According to kirpich,

t=0.0195K0.77

where K=(Lc3/H)0.5

Lc= length of the longest channel in meters

H= height difference between the farthest point of channel and the last
point of channel in meters

From topo map, H = 1180-450 = 730 m

And from Google Earth Pro, Lc = 6.1km = 6100m

Hence using the above formula K=17329.78

Putting this value of K in kirpich’s equation, we get time of concentration tc =
35.801 minutes = 0.597hrs

Now again, we use use this value of tc to find intensity of rainfall for various
return periods and hence peak discharge value for respective value of return
period of flood.

The intensity of rainfall and peak discharge for various return periods for my
catchment area are tabulated below :

T (years) i (mm/hr) Q (m3/s)

2 6.03 11.71

10 7.83 15.20

20 8.76 17.00

30 9.35 18.15

33 9.5 18.44

50 10.16 19.73

100 11.37 22.07

200 12.73 24.71

Hence, in this way peak discharge for various return periods was calculated using
rational formula.
2. PCJ 1996

- The PCJ method (Jha 1996) calculates design peak flood discharge based on
hourly rainfall intensity. This method employs following formula:

Qp=16.67*ap*op*Φ*F*kF+Qs

Where,

Qp = Maximum rainfall design discharge for required exceedence probability (p)

in m3/sec

ap = Maximum rainfall design intensity for required exceedence probability (p)

in mm/min

ap = ahr.kt, where, ahr = Hourly rainfall intensity for required exceedence

probability (p) in mm/min at selected rainfall stations

kt = Reduction coefficient of hourly rainfall intensity (depends on the size of

catchment area)

op = Infiltration coefficient of the basin, derived as the function of exceedence

probability (p)

Φ = Areal reduction coefficient of maximum rainfall discharge (depends on the

size of catchment)

F = Catchment area of drainage basin in sq. km.

kF = Coefficient for unequal distribution of rainfall in different size of basin,

captured by one rain.

QS = Discharge by melting of snow, can be taken as 0 to 10% of QP in the absence

of data
PCJ 1996 was formulated by my own teacher Prem Chandra Jha in 1996 as his
part of PhD desertation. It’s been a privilege to be his student, as he has not only
taught me Irrigation Engineering, Hill Irrigation and Watershed Management and
soil conservation but also more important moral education on serving my mother
country Nepal once I turn into a professional engineer.

3. Hydest WECS/DHM1990

- WECS/DHM Method WECS/DHM (1990) method employs regional prediction

methods. It is a modification of WECS (Water and Energy Commission Secretariat)
approach of 1982 and has been developed jointly by WECS and DHM (Department
of Hydrology and Meteorology) in cooperation with WMO (World Meteorological
Organization), WERDP (Water and Energy Resource Development Project, until
1989) and WISP (WECS/NEA Institutional Support Program) in 1990 (Shrestha et
al., 2010). The following equations were used for flood forecasting:

Q2=1.8767(A3000)0.8783

Q100=14.639(A3000)0.7342

Where, Q2, Q100 are 2 and100 years return period floods respectively and
A3000 is the catchment area under 3000 m elevation.

4. Hydest WCS/DHM 2004

- This formula was generated same as the DHM 1990 but with better data in 2004.

5. Modified Dicken’s

- This method is also widely used in Nepal.

Qf = CA3/4

C=2.342log(0.6T)log(1185/P) + 4

P= 100(As+6)/A
Where, A and As are the total catchment area and snow covered area (km2)
respectively and T is return period in years.

The values of discharge were calculated from the latter 4 methods using their
excel sheet formulations. The results from all 5 methods are tabulated below

Flood Comparision from Different Method

Return WECS- HYDEST-
PCJ- Modified- Rational
S.N. Period DHM DHM
1996 Dickens Method
(Yrs) 1990 2004
1 2 9 19 27 11.71
2 10 19 52 46 41 15.2
3 20 24 70 17.00
4 33 90 51 18.44
5 50 30 97 111 55 19.73
6 100 35 121 137 61 22.07
7 200 41 147 77.7 24.71
 Peak Discharge for various return periods using different
methods
180

160 160
147
140 137
Discharge (Cumecs)

120 121
111
100 97
90
85
80
70 70
60 62 61
52 55
51
46 46
40 41 41
35 35
27 27 30
24 22.07 24.71
20 19 19 17 18.44 19.73
11.71 15.2
9
0
2 10 20 33 50 100 200

Return Period (Years)

DHM1990 DHM2004 PCJ1996 MODIFIED DICKENS RATIONAL

Conclusion:
After analyzing the values of discharge from various methods, it can be clearly
seen that PCJ method gives higher value of discharge and rational method gives
lower value of discharge. Rational method is not suitable for large areas as the
coefficient of run off varies from surface to surface. PCJ method gives value for
higher safety but might turnout to uneconomical in some cases. So, of these
methods I personally feel that DHM 2004 is the more suitable method. It was
developed by the Government of Nepal after hard research focusing on the
monsoon rain in Nepal. Hence, it works best in case of Nepal.

Prepared by Rabs Ranjit