Wood export prediction at the watershed scale

Wood export from a watershed is a function of peak annual discharge, but one hydrologic relationship alone does not fully explain observed variability. Consideration of physical processes that influence the amount of wood available for transport is needed. However, wood recruitment, storage, mobilization, breakage, and transport rates and processes remain difficult to quantify. A theoretical wood transport equation focused on variations in discharge was the motivation for investigation into watershed‐specific wood export rates. Herein, multiplicative coefficients categorized by water year type are developed, paired with the equation, and validated to provide a new method for prediction of wood export at the watershed scale. The coefficients are defined as representing a broad suite of watershed processes that encompass spatio‐temporally variable scales. Two complementary datasets from the 1097 km² mountainous North Yuba River, California watershed were used. Wood surveys above New Bullards Bar Reservoir yielded a wood availability estimate of 250 000–300 000 m³ along the channel network. Annual wood export into the reservoir was field‐surveyed in 2010, 2012 and 2013, and estimated in seven years via remotely sensed images over the 30 year study period of water years 1985–2014. Empirical, watershed‐scale wood export rates ranged from 0.3–5.6%. Comparison of predicted quantities using the new DVWP (discharge variations modified by watershed processes) wood export equation to observed wood export quantities resulted in an aggregate error rate of ±10%. When individual wood export quantities were compared, predicted to observed varied by 0.5–3.0 times. Total wood export of 59 000–71 000 m³ was estimated over the 30 year period, yielding a rate of 1.8 to 2.2 m³/year/km². Wood export predictive capabilities at the watershed scale may help water resource and regulatory agencies plan for wood transfers to augment downstream ecosystems. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flood hydrology and geomorphic effectiveness in the central Appalachians

This paper compares hydrologic records and geomorphic effects of several historic floods in the central Appalachian region of the eastern United States. The most recent of these, occurring in November 1985, was the largest ever recorded in West Virginia, with peak discharges exceeding the estimated 500-year discharge at eight of eleven stations in the South Branch Potomac River and Cheat River basins. Geomorphic effects on valley floors included some of the most severe and widespread floodplain erosion ever documented and exceeded anything seen in previous floods, even though comparable or greater rainfall and unit discharge have been observed several times in the region over the past 50 years. Comparison of discharge-drainage area plots suggests that the intensity and spatial scale of the November 1985 flood were optimal for erosion of valley floors along the three forks of the South Branch Potomac River. However, when a larger geographic area is considered, rainfall totals and discharge-drainage area relationships are insufficient predictors of geomorphic effectiveness for valley floors at drainage areas of 250 to 2500 km². Unit stream power was calculated for the largest recorded flood discharge at 46 stations in the central Appalachians. Maximum values of unit stream power are developed in bedrock canyons, where the boundaries are resistant to erosion and the flow cross-section cannot adjust its width to accommodate extreme discharges. The largest value was 2570 W m^?2; record discharge at most stations was associated with unit stream power values less than 300 W m^?2, but more stations exceeded this value in the November 1985 flood than in the other floods that were analysed. Unit stream power at indirect discharge measurement sites near areas experiencing severe erosion in this and other central Appalachian floods generally exceeded 300 W m^?2; reach-average values of 200-500 W m^?2 were calculated for valleys where erosion damage was most widespread. Despite these general trends, unit stream power is not a reliable predictor of geomorphic change for individual sites. Improved understanding of flood impacts will require more detailed investigation of interactions between local site characteristics and patterns of flood flow over the valley floor.     

Hydrograph responses to geomorphic model watershed characteristics and precipitation variables

The primary objective of the Watershed Model Studies Project, reported herein, was to ascertain the effect of selected watershed characteristics on hydrograph parameters under a rainfall simulator. Since most of the runoff contributing to the peak flow was found to emanate from the lower half of the drainage, a measure of watershed eccentricity utilizing easily measured properties in that area is derived and evaluated as a reliable predictor of peak magnitude. In the process of isolating watershed shape, slope, size, drainage pattern, and soil depth were isolated and, along with rainfall intensity, direction of storm movement, and antecedent moisture conditions, evaluated for the models. Studies were made into the similarities between the models and real world watersheds. Three of the several conclusions are 1) the models exhibit hydrologic responses similar to those of a wide range of real watersheds; 2) watershed shape, of itself, does not have a tremendous effect on peak magnitude, and 3) watershed eccentricity is an effective, easily measured, meaningful, and useful expression of watershed shape insofar as that characteristic affects maximum peak flows and certain time parameters of the hydrograph.     

Digital mapping of riverine waterway hydrodynamic and geomorphic features

This paper proposes an innovative, non‐intrusive method for mapping waterway characteristics in riverine areas. The technique uses photogrammetry to provide quantitative information about the dry area in the vicinity of the waterways (banks and floodplain) and image processing algorithms to characterize the flow. Riverside images of a riverine area are decomposed into quasi‐planar areas and ortho‐rectified and re‐assembled to obtain a panoramic ortho‐view of the area of interest. Morphological features of interest (such as river bank positions, flood plain edges, mud deposits, vegetation and erosion patterns) are then identified on the ortho‐view and mapped digitally. Image sequences of the river flow are recorded, allowing a surface velocity analysis to be obtained through Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV). Finally, the mapped elements and the surface velocities are displayed together in a GIS‐like visualization. Through the presentation of a case study of a flood event at a culvert site, this paper demonstrates the capability of the technique to monitor characteristics of waterways over time. The method is inexpen‐sive (a conventional video or digital camera can be used), fast and requires minimum preparation. It can be applied in such important river‐related research areas as morphodynamic and sediment transport studies. It also fosters an improved understand‐ing of the coupling between the river and its banks, which is essential for river restoration and eco‐habitat studies. The present methodology is readily available for implementation in routine bridge inspections, fitted with an easy‐to‐use graphical interface. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flood hazard mapping in Southern Brazil: a combination of flow frequency analysis and the HAND model

The Itajaí River basin is one of the areas most affected by flood-related disasters in Brazil. Flood hazard maps based on digital elevation models (DEM) are an important alternative in the absence of detailed hydrological data and for application in large areas. We developed a flood hazard mapping methodology by combining flow frequency analysis with the Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND) model – f2HAND – and applied it in three municipalities in the Itajaí River basin. The f2HAND performance was evaluated through comparison with observed 2011 flood extent maps. Model performance and sensitivity were tested for different DEM resolutions, return periods and streamflow data from stations located upstream and downstream on the main river. The flood hazard mapping with our combined approach matched 92% of the 2011 flood event. We found that the f2HAND model has low sensitivity to DEM resolution and high sensitivity to area threshold of channel initiation.     

Effect of best management practice implementation on sediment and phosphorus load reductions at subwatershed and watershed scale using SWAT model

Identification of areas contributing disproportionately high amount of pollutants (i.e., critical source areas (CSAs)) to streams is important to efficiently and effectively target best management practices (BMPs). Process-based models are commonly used to identify CSAs and evaluate the impact of alternative management practices on pollutant load reductions. The objective of this study was to use the Soil and Watershed Assessment Tool (SWAT) to identify CSAs at the subwatershed level and evaluate the impact of alternative BMPs on sediment and total phosphorus (TP) load reductions in the Pleasant Valley watershed (50 km2) in South Central Wisconsin (USA). The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency, percent bias, and coefficient of determination ranged from 0.58 to 0.71, ? 12.87 to 38.33, and 0.67 to 0.79, respectively, indicating that SWAT was able to predict stream flow, sediment and TP loadings at a monthly time-step with sufficient accuracy. Based on the SWAT simulation results, annual average (2006–2012) sub-watershed yield for sediment and TP ranged from 0.06 to 3.14 tons ha?1 yr?1 and 0.04 to 1.9 kg ha ? 1 yr ? 1, respectively. The croplands were the major source of sediment and TP in this watershed ( Z 84%). Reduction in sediment and TP loading ranged from 66%to 99%at the subwatershed level after conversion of croplands to Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands in subwatersheds identified as CSAs. On the other hand, reduction in sediment and TP loading with implementation of no-till practices ranged from only 14%to 25%. At the watershed outlet, sediment and TP loading reduction was r 15% after conversion of croplands to CRP grasslands and implementation of no-till practices because only about 8%of the watershed area was targeted for BMPs and/or resuspension of sediment deposited on the stream bed masked the downstream improvements in water quality.     

Urban flood hazard mapping using change detection on wetness transformed images

ABSTRACT

The present study demonstrates the use of a new approach for delineating the accurate flood hazard footprint in the urban regions. The methodology involves transformation of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery to a three-dimensional feature space, i.e. brightness, wetness and greenness, then a change detection technique is used to identify the areas affected by the flood. Efficient thresholding of the normalized difference image generated during change detection has shown promising results in identifying the flood extents which include standing water due to flood, sediment-laden water and wetness caused by the flood. Prior to wetness transformations, dark object subtraction has been used in lower wavelengths to avoid errors due to scattering in urban areas. The study shows promising results in eliminating most of the problems associated with urban flooding, such as misclassification due to presence of asphalt, scattering in lower wavelengths and delineating mud surges. The present methodology was tested on the 2010 Memphis flood event and validated on Queensland floods in 2011. The comparative analysis was carried out with the widely-used technique of delineating flood extents using thresholding of near infrared imagery. The comparison demonstrated that the present approach is more robust towards the error of omission in flood mapping. Moreover, the present approach involves less manual effort and is simpler to use.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor A. Viglione     

Consistency between hydrological models and field observations: linking processes at the hillslope scale to hydrological responses at the watershed scale

The purpose of this paper is to identify simple connections between observations of hydrological processes at the hillslope scale and observations of the response of watersheds following rainfall, with a view to building a parsimonious model of catchment processes. The focus is on the well‐studied Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW), Georgia, USA. Recession analysis of discharge Q shows that while the relationship between dQ/dt and Q is approximately consistent with a linear reservoir for the hillslope, there is a deviation from linearity that becomes progressively larger with increasing spatial scale. To account for these scale differences conceptual models of streamflow recession are defined at both the hillslope scale and the watershed scale, and an assessment made as to whether models at the hillslope scale can be aggregated to be consistent with models at the watershed scale. Results from this study show that a model with parallel linear reservoirs provides the most plausible explanation (of those tested) for both the linear hillslope response to rainfall and non‐linear recession behaviour observed at the watershed outlet. In this model each linear reservoir is associated with a landscape type. The parallel reservoir model is consistent with both geochemical analyses of hydrological flow paths and water balance estimates of bedrock recharge. Overall, this study demonstrates that standard approaches of using recession analysis to identify the functional form of storage–discharge relationships identify model structures that are inconsistent with field evidence, and that recession analysis at multiple spatial scales can provide useful insights into catchment behaviour. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of climate change on diffuse pollutant fluxes at the watershed scale

This study aims to assess watershed‐scale impacts of changing climate on sediment, phosphorus, nitrogen and pesticide (atrazine) fluxes over the 21st century at the watershed scale. In particular, changes in dissolved and particulate forms of water quality constituents in response to climate change are investigated. The hydrologic model Soil and Water Assessment Tool was calibrated and evaluated in a primarily agricultural watershed in the Midwestern United States to simulate hydrologic and water quality processes on a daily basis over the 2015–2099 time horizon. The model was then driven with 112 distinct statistically downscaled climate projections representing Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (IPCC SRES) low, moderate and high greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Projected hydrologic and water quality responses were categorized according to the three IPCC SRES emission scenarios for summarizing and synthesizing results over early‐century (2015–2034), mid‐century (2045–2064) and late‐century (2080–2099) assessment. Results revealed clear warming trends in the study area, whereas small increases in precipitation were predicted. Streamflow, sediment and total nutrient loads did not differ noticeably between assessment periods. However, the proportion of dissolved to total nutrients increased significantly from early‐century to late‐century periods. With the exception of total atrazine in the mid‐century period, predicted pollutant loads for a given assessment period did not differ between emission pathways for a given assessment period. Changes in pollutant fluxes showed pronounced monthly variability. The projected increase in readily available forms of nutrients has important implications for the ecological health of water systems and management of drinking water supplies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optical remote mapping of rivers at sub‐meter resolutions and watershed extents

At watershed extents, our understanding of river form, process and function is largely based on locally intensive mapping of river reaches, or on spatially extensive but low density data scattered throughout a watershed (e.g. cross sections). The net effect has been to characterize streams as discontinuous systems. Recent advances in optical remote sensing of rivers indicate that it should now be possible to generate accurate and continuous maps of in‐stream habitats, depths, algae, wood, stream power and other features at sub‐meter resolutions across entire watersheds so long as the water is clear and the aerial view is unobstructed. Such maps would transform river science and management by providing improved data, better models and explanation, and enhanced applications. Obstacles to achieving this vision include variations in optics associated with shadows, water clarity, variable substrates and target–sun angle geometry. Logistical obstacles are primarily due to the reliance of existing ground validation procedures on time‐of‐flight field measurements, which are impossible to accomplish at watershed extents, particularly in large and difficult to access river basins. Philosophical issues must also be addressed that relate to the expectations around accuracy assessment, the need for and utility of physically based models to evaluate remote sensing results and the ethics of revealing information about river resources at fine spatial resolutions. Despite these obstacles and issues, catchment extent remote river mapping is now feasible, as is demonstrated by a proof‐of‐concept example for the Nueces River, Texas, and examples of how different image types (radar, lidar, thermal) could be merged with optical imagery. The greatest obstacle to development and implementation of more remote sensing, catchment scale ‘river observatories’ is the absence of broadly based funding initiatives to support collaborative research by multiple investigators in different river settings. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Streambank sediment loading rates at the watershed scale and the benefit of riparian protection

Streambank erosion is a pathway for sediment and nutrient loading to streams, but insufficient data exist on the magnitude of this source. Riparian protection can significantly decrease streambank erosion in some locations, but estimates of actual sediment load reductions are limited. The objective of this research was to quantify watershed‐scale streambank erosion and estimate the benefits of riparian protection. The research focused on Spavinaw Creek within the Eucha‐Spavinaw watershed in eastern Oklahoma, where composite streambanks consist of a small cohesive topsoil layer underlain by non‐cohesive gravel. Fine sediment erosion from 2003 to 2013 was derived using aerial photography and processed in ArcMap to quantify eroded area. ArcMap was also utilized in determining the bank retreat rate at various locations in relation to the riparian vegetation buffer width. Box and whisker plots clearly showed that sites with riparian vegetation had on average three times less bank retreat than unprotected banks, statistically significant based on non‐parametric t‐tests. The total soil mass eroded from 2003 to 2013 was estimated at 7.27 × 10⁷ kg yr.^?1, and the average bank retreat was 2.5 m yr.^?1. Many current erosion models assume that fluvial erosion is the dominant stream erosion process. Bank retreat was positively correlated with stream discharge and/or stream power, but with considerable variability, suggesting that mass wasting plays an important role in streambank erosion within this watershed. Finally, watershed monitoring programs commonly characterize erosion at only a few sites and may scale results to the entire watershed. Selection of random sites and scaling to the watershed scale greatly underestimated the actual erosion and loading rates. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic design spectra and mapping procedures using hazard analysis based directly on oscillator response

The calculation of design spectra for building sites threatened by seismic ground motion is approached by considering the maximum responses of linearly elastic oscillators as indicators of ground motion intensity. Attenuation functions describing the distribution of response as a function of earthquake magnitude and distance are derived using 68 components of recorded ground motion as data. With a seismic hazard analysis for several hypothetical building sites, the distributions of maximum oscillator responses to earthquakes of random magnitude and location are calculated, and spectra are drawn to indicate the maximum responses associated with specified probability levels. These spectra are compared to design spectra calculated from published methods of amplifying peak ground motion parameters. The latter spectra are found to be inconsistent in terms of risk for building sites very close and very far from faults. A ground motion parameter defined to be proportional to the maximum response of a 1 Hz, 2 per cent damped linearly elastic oscillator is investigated; this parameter, in conjunction with peak ground acceleration, is found to lead to risk-consistent design spectra. Through these two parameters, a design earthquake magnitude and design hypocentral distance are defined, for a specified building site and risk level. The use of these parameters in the seismic hazard mapping of a region is illustrated.     

The geomorphic legacy of water and erosion control structures in a semiarid rangeland watershed

Control over water supply and distribution is critical for agriculture in drylands where manipulating surface runoff often serves the dual purpose of erosion control. However, little is known of the geomorphic impacts and legacy effects of rangeland water manipulation infrastructure, especially if not maintained. This study investigated the geomorphic impacts of structures such as earthen berms, water control gates, and stock tanks, in a semiarid rangeland in the southwestern USA that is responding to both regional channel incision that was initiated over a century ago, and a more recent land use change that involved cattle removal and abandonment of structures. The functional condition of remnant structures was inventoried, mapped, and assessed using aerial imagery and lidar data. Headcut initiation, scour, and channel incision associated with compromised lateral channel berms, concrete water control structures, floodplain water spreader berms, and stock tanks were identified as threats to floodplains and associated habitat. Almost half of 27 identified lateral channel berms (48%) have been breached and 15% have experienced lateral scour; 18% of 218 shorter water spreader berms have been breached and 17% have experienced lateral scour. A relatively small number of 117 stock tanks (6%) are identified as structurally compromised based on analysis of aerial imagery, although many currently do not provide consistent water supplies. In some cases, the onset of localized disturbance is recent enough that opportunities for mitigation can be identified to alter the potentially damaging erosion trajectories that are ultimately driven by regional geomorphic instability. Understanding the effects of prior land use and remnant structures on channel and floodplain morphologic condition is critical because both current land management and future land use options are constrained by inherited land use legacy effects. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA     

A probabilistic framework for floodplain mapping using hydrological modeling and unsteady hydraulic modeling

ABSTRACT

Prediction of design hydrographs is key in floodplain mapping using hydraulic models, which are either steady state or unsteady. The former, which require only an input peak, substantially overestimate the volume of water entering the floodplain compared to the more realistic dynamic case simulated by the unsteady models that require the full hydrograph. Past efforts to account for the uncertainty of boundary conditions using unsteady hydraulic modeling have been based largely on a joint flood frequency–shape analysis, with only a very limited number of studies using hydrological modeling to produce the design hydrographs. This study therefore presents a generic probabilistic framework that couples a hydrological model with an unsteady hydraulic model to estimate the uncertainty of flood characteristics. The framework is demonstrated on the Swannanoa River watershed in North Carolina, USA. Given its flexibility, the framework can be applied to study other sources of uncertainty in other hydrological models and watersheds.     

Assessing the impact of the hydraulic properties of a crusted soil on overland flow modelling at the field scale

Soil surface crusts are widely reported to favour Hortonian runoff, but are not explicitly represented in most rainfall‐runoff models. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of soil surface crusts on infiltration and runoff modelling at two spatial scales, i.e. the local scale and the plot scale. At the local scale, two separate single ring infiltration experiments are undertaken. The first is performed on the undisturbed soil, whereas the second is done after removal of the soil surface crust. The HYDRUS 2D two‐dimensional vertical infiltration model is then used in an inverse modelling approach, first to estimate the soil hydraulic properties of the crust and the subsoil, and then the effective hydraulic properties of the soil represented as a single uniform layer. The results show that the crust hydraulic conductivity is 10 times lower than that of the subsoil, thus illustrating the limiting role the crust has on infiltration. Moving up to the plot scale, a rainfall‐runoff model coupling the Richards equation to a transfer function is used to simulate Hortonian overland flow hydrographs. The previously calculated hydraulic properties are used, and a comparison is undertaken between a single‐layer and a double‐layer representation of the crusted soil. The results of the rainfall‐runoff model show that the soil hydraulic properties calculated at the local scale give acceptable results when used to model runoff at the plot scale directly, without any numerical calibration. Also, at the plot scale, no clear improvement of the results can be seen when using a double‐layer representation of the soil in comparison with a single homogeneous layer. This is due to the hydrological characteristics of Hortonian runoff, which is triggered by a rainfall intensity exceeding the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil surface. Consequently, the rainfall‐runoff model is more sensitive to rainfall than to the subsoil's hydrodynamic properties. Therefore, the use of a double‐layer soil model to represent runoff on a crusted soil does not seem necessary, as the increase of precision in the soil discretization is not justified by a better performance of the model. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technical guidelines for the assessment of earthquake induced liquefaction hazard at urban scale

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - Microzonation for earthquake-induced liquefaction hazard is the subdivision of a territory at a municipal or submunicipal scale in areas characterized by the...     

Flood risk assessment and mapping based on a modified multi-parameter flood hazard index model in the Guanzhong Urban Area,China

The aim of this study is to promote appropriate land development policies and to improve operations of flood risk in urban areas. This study first illustrated a multi-parameter flood hazard index (FHI) model for assessing potential flood risk areas in the Guanzhong Urban Area (GUA), a large-scale urban area in northwestern China. The FHI model consisted of the following seven parameters: rainfall intensity, flow accumulation, distance from the river network, elevation, land use, surface slope, and geology. The parameter weights were assigned using an analytical hierarchy process and the sum weight of the first three parameters accounted for 71.21% of the total weight and had significant influence on flooding. By combining with population factor, the FHI model was modified to estimate the flood control area in the GUA. The spatial distribution of the flood risk was obviously different in the flood hazard area and flood control area. The very low risk and medium risk area in the flood control area increased by 11.19% and reduced by 9.03% compared to flood hazard area, but there were no obvious differences in other levels of risk areas. The flood control assessment indicated that very high flood risk areas were principally concentrated along river banks (the Weihe River and its tributaries) and in the middle of the Guanzhong Plain. Land use and population distribution are related to flooding. Especially, forestland was located in 84.48% of the very low risk area, while low risk areas were mainly located in 91.49% of high population dispersion area.     

Evaporation in Mediterranean conditions: Estimations based on isotopic approaches at the watershed scale

In Mediterranean regions, the marked climatic seasonality and uneven precipitation distribution complicate the application of isotope mass balances to obtain meaningful basin-wide annual average evaporation rates. In the present study, a mass balance approach carried out on the Tavignanu River watershed in Corsica (France), showed unrealistic evaporation rate estimates: 10% for 2017–2018 and 1% for 2018–2019. This suggests that not only does evaporation alter the seasonal isotopic composition in the river, but that there is complex variability of the dominant water reservoirs contributing to the streamflow. Therefore, we propose a modified mass balance approach, including monthly quantifications of different water sources contributing to the river discharge. This allows the discrimination of isotopic variation occurring by evaporation from that originating by mixing processes. By applying this modified approach, we estimated evaporation rates on the Tavignanu River watershed that were in good agreement with results obtained by hydrological modelling: 40% for 2017–2018 and 46% for 2018–2019, respectively. An uncertainty analysis showed that evaporation rates obtained with the modified isotopic approach are close to those obtained with the non-modified approach. Therefore, we recommend using this modified isotope mass balance approach to estimate evaporation rates in such regions as the Mediterranean with high seasonality in hydrological processes.     

Delineation of hydrologically similar units in a watershed based on fuzzy classification of soil hydraulic properties

Evaluation of flow and transport processes in a watershed‐scale requires that the watershed be divided into homogenous spatial units referred to as hydrologically similar units (HSUs). Although a few discretization schemes are already in use, a universally acceptable method of obtaining HSUs is yet to emerge. In this study, we developed a fuzzy inference system (FIS) to classify the saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) and two water‐retention parameters α and n into fuzzy logic‐based soil hydrologic classes (FSHCs). Analysis of these classes showed that soil properties within an FSHC have less variability and those between two FSHCs have large variability. This result suggested that soils belonging to a specific FSHC may be more similar than those across different FSHCs and may be grouped together to represent an HSU. Soils within a specific hydrologic class were aggregated to delineate HSUs within the watershed. For the Dengei Pahad micro‐watershed (DPW), this approach showed five distinct regions representing a discretized zone having similar soil hydraulic properties. Application of this approach on a larger international database of soil hydraulic properties revealed that the developed hydrologic classes are quite comparable across different databases. The delineated HSUs based on these FSHCs were also better than the soil series map of the watershed in maintaining the soil heterogeneity of the watershed. Moreover, this new discretization scheme using the SWAT modelling environment showed better performance than the soil series‐based discretization approach. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.