Exercise 1: Catchment delineation and determination of watershed characteristics

Introduction

A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that drains off of it goes into the same
place, a river, stream or lake (Figure 1). The smallest watersheds are the drainage areas for small
streams and lakes. A watershed is a basic unit of hydrological behavior. On the land surface, it is a
geographical unit in which the hydrological cycle and its components can be analyzed.

Figure 1. A watershed

Classification of Watershed

1) Size -The main implication of watershed size appears in terms of spatial heterogeneity of
hydrological processes. The spatial variability of watershed characteristics increases with size,
therefore, large watersheds are most heterogeneous. As the watershed size increases, storage
increases. Based on size, the watersheds are divided into three classes.

Table 1. Watershed classification based on size

2) Land Use -Land use defines the exploitation (natural and human interactions) characteristics of
watersheds which affect the various hydrological processes within the watershed. It could be
categorized in terms of landuse as agriculutural, urban, mountainous, forest, desert, coastal or
marsh, or mixed – combination of two or more of the previous classifications.

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Watershed Characteristics: Physical and Geomorphologic Characteristics associated with Watersheds

Watershed geomorphology refers to the study of the characteristics, configuration and evolution of
land forms and properties; developing physical characteristics of the watershed. It comprises of the
characteristics of land surface as well as the characteristics of the channels within the watershed/basin
boundary. These properties of watersheds significantly affect the characteristics of runoff and other
hydrological processes.

The principal watershed characteristics are:

1) Basin Area - The area of watershed is also known as the drainage area and it is the most
important watershed characteristic for hydrologic analysis. It reflects the volume of
water that can be generated from a rainfall. Once the watershed has been delineated,
its area can be determined by approximate map methods, planimeter or GIS.

2) Basin Slope - Watershed/basin slope affects the momentum of runoff. It reflects the
rate of change of elevation with respect to distance along the principal flow path.

3) Basin Shape - Basin shape is not usually used directly in hydrologic design methods;
however, parameters that reflect basin shape are used occasionally and have a
conceptual basis. Watersheds have an infinite variety of shapes, and the shape
supposedly reflects the way that runoff will “bunch up” at the outlet. A circular
watershed would result in runoff from various parts of the watershed reaching the
outlet at the same time. An elliptical watershed having the outlet at one end of the
major axis and having the same area as the circular watershed would cause the runoff
to be spread out over time, thus producing a smaller flood peak than that of the circular
watershed.

4) Basin Length - Conceptually the basin length is the distance traveled by the surface
drainage and sometimes more appropriately labeled as hydrologic length. This length is
generally used in computing a time parameter, which is a measure of the travel time of
water through a watershed.

Length can be defined in more than one way

• The greatest straight-line distance between any two points on the perimeter
• The greatest distance between the outlet and any point on the perimeter
• The length of the main stream from its source (projected to the perimeter) to
the outlet

Figure 2. Basin length

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Channel Characteristics

The basin geomorphology plays an important role in the transition of water from the overland
region to channels (streams) and also from the channel of one order to the other.

Channel Order: The first-order streams are defined as those channels that have no tributaries. The
junction of two first-order channels form a second-order channel. A third-order channel is formed by the
junction of two second-order channels.

Figure 3. The Horton-Strahler ordering scheme.

Objectives: To delineate a watershed and its streams using a Geographic Information System software
and determine its watershed area.

Instructions: Delineate a watershed and its streams using the QGIS and write a simple 1 paragparph
report classifying the delineated watershed.

1) Download and install QGIS 3.1

2) Download the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from my gdrive

3) Follow instructions for the watershed and stream delineation

4) Submit a 1 paragraph characterization report for your watershed along with your watershed
map.

Extract a channel network, delineate watersheds and calculate some statistics.

1. Install plugin QuickMapServices- to show open street map

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Add open street map

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2. Fill sinks (Wang & Liu) - uncheck last two and create filename then Run. After the processes
complete, you should now see that the lowest DEM is non-negative

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3. Strahler order – Use the Filled_DEM. Create a filename for the file. Then run

Result:

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You may opt to change the color. Go to layer properties and then symbology-change to Single
pseuduvolor and then Equal interval and classify to 10 classes. You may now compare it to the OSM
standard rivers

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Delineate river and watershed

Delineate river, and watershed using Channel Network and drainage basin from the toolbox. Set
Threshold of Strahler order and set any from the options that you want to process.

Or if you want to select your outlet,

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Create an outlet shapefile and get the coordinate by creating new field

Add field for the x and y coordinates of the outlet

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Add point feature

Open attribute table

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To determine the x and y coordinates of the outlet, use Open field calculator

Update existing field x_coord and y_coord

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In the geometry, choose $x for x_coord the click okay and repeat for $y for y_coord

Delineate the watershed for the chosen outlet using Upslope area toolbox, copy and paste cell content
of the x and y_coord

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Convert watershed to polygon

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Delete non-watershed area in the attribute by toggle editing

Open attribute table

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Select feature then delete

Clip rivers to the watershed boundary

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Editing the symbology of a layer, for example the river or stream

Go to the layer properties

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Then edit the symbology

Compute the area of the watershed area

Go to attribute table of the watershed layer then open field calculator

Create new field then name it “Area”. Choose decimal number and under geometry choose $area
(double click). Then click OK.

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You can now see the area of the watershed in the attribute table

Creating a print layout for submissions

Go to Project then select New Print Layout

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From the layout, go to Add item and choose Add Map,

Then draw a rectangle that where you would like to place your map in the layout

You can edit the scale of the watershed in your map by editing the Map 1 properties in the dialog box at
the right

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Adding label

Go to the Add item the choose Add Label

You can edit the label by selecting the item in the box at the right then edit the Main properties and
type in the title of your Map

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Editing the font

Choose the font in the Main properties of the selected label item, then edit the Text Format

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Adding North Arrow

Go to the add item and choose Add North Arrow, then select and draw a rectangle where you want to
place it in the layout

Adding legend

Go to the Add item then choose add legend, then draw a rectangle where you want place the legend

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You can remove item from the property of the legend by selecting legend under the Items at the box in
the right. Uncheck Autoupdate to edit or remove legend items.

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You can now save your layout, go to project then save

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Exporting layout for reports

Go to Project then choose Export as Image. You can also choose the resolution of your layout output
from the save dialog box.

Result:

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