Urbanization and Its Potential Impact on the Peak Discharge from the Watershed of the Upper Merced River in California

Abstract

Urbanization is an unavoidable process that influences many components of a watershed, and thus hydrologic processes are severely affected by changes in land use due to this urbanization. During this study, the objective was to assess the impact of urbanization on the peak discharge of a watershed in accordance with the outcome of this research. For this purpose, Watershed Modeling System (WMS) software and Hydrologic Engineering Center- Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model were used for simulating various land-use scenarios of Merced County, in the central part of California, USA. Simulation results were analyzed to assess the impact of land-use changes on the peak discharge of the watershed. The results showed that approximately 18% peak discharge was increased at the sub-basin level and approximately 2% peak discharge was increased at the final outlet. In the future, the study could help researchers, policymakers, and structural designers to foresee and prevent the unpleasant effects of urbanization so that they can take specific measures to prevent calamities beforehand.

Keywords: Watershed-modeling, urbanization, land use, peak discharge, WMS, HEC-HMS.

DOI: 10.7176/CER/14-7-02

Publication date: November 30^th 2022