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Soil Erosion and Sediment Load Management Strategies for Sustainable Irrigation in Arid Regions
- Source :
- Sustainability, Vol 13, Iss 3547, p 3547 (2021), Sustainability, Volume 13, Issue 6
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Soil erosion is a serious environmental issue in the Gomal River catchment shared by Pakistan and Afghanistan. The river segment between the Gomal Zam dam and a diversion barrage (~40 km) brings a huge load of sediments that negatively affects the downstream irrigation system, but the sediment sources have not been explored in detail in this sub-catchment. The analysis of flow and sediment data shows that the significant sediment yield is still contributing to the diversion barrage despite the Gomal Zam dam construction. However, the sediment share at the diversion barrage from the sub-catchment is much larger than its relative size. A spatial assessment of erosion rates in the sub-catchment with the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) shows that most of the sub-catchment falls into very severe and catastrophic erosion rate categories (&gt<br />100 t h−1y−1). The sediment entry into the irrigation system can be managed both by limiting erosion in the catchment and trapping sediments into a hydraulic structure. The authors tested a scenario by improving the crop management factor in RUSLE as a catchment management option. The results show that improving the crop management factor makes little difference in reducing the erosion rates in the sub-catchment, suggesting other RUSLE factors, and perhaps slope is a more obvious reason for high erosion rates. This research also explores the efficiency of a proposed settling reservoir as a sediment load management option for the flows diverted from the barrage. The proposed settling reservoir is simulated using a computer-based sediment transport model. The modeling results suggest that a settling reservoir can reduce sediment entry into the irrigation network by trapping 95% and 25% for sand and silt particles, respectively. The findings of the study suggest that managing the sub-catchment characterizing an arid region and having steep slopes and barren mountains is a less compelling option to reduce sediment entry into the irrigation system compared to the settling reservoir at the diversion barrage. Managing the entire catchment (including upstream of Gomal Zam dam) can be a potential solution, but it would require cooperative planning due to the transboundary nature of the Gomal river catchment. The output of this research can aid policy and decision-makers to sustainably manage sediment erosion issues of the irrigation network.
- Subjects :
- arid regions
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
sediment transport modeling
lcsh:TJ807-830
0208 environmental biotechnology
Geography, Planning and Development
lcsh:Renewable energy sources
02 engineering and technology
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Silt
01 natural sciences
sediment yield
Gomal River
Settling
RUSLE
lcsh:Environmental sciences
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
lcsh:GE1-350
Hydrology
soil erosion
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
lcsh:Environmental effects of industries and plants
Sediment
Sedimentation
020801 environmental engineering
Universal Soil Loss Equation
lcsh:TD194-195
Hydraulic structure
Erosion
Environmental science
Sediment transport
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20711050
- Volume :
- 13
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Sustainability
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....8774e372e200f2306102e425c5eded3d