Estimation of surface runoff in Malattar sub-watershed using SCS-CN method

Nowadays watershed management plays a vital role in water resources engineering. Watershed based on water resources management is necessary to plan and conserve the available resources. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques can be effectively used to manage spatial and non spatial database that represent the hydrologic characteristics of the watershed use as realistically as possible. The present study area is Malattar subwatershed (4C2B2) lies in the region Gudiyattam Block, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu. The daily rainfall data of Gudiyattam rain gauge station (1971–2007) was collected and used to predict the daily runoff from the watershed using Soil Conservation Service — Curve Number (SCS — CN) method (USDA, 1972) and GIS. Monthly and annual runoff have been calculated from the monthly rainfall data for the years of 1971 to 2007 in the watershed area. The average minimum and maximum rainfall for the years of 1971 to 2007 is 35.30 mm and 111.61 mm respectively and average runoff for the year of 1971 to 2007 is 31.87 mm³ and 47.04 mm³ respectively. The developed rainfall-runoff model is used to understand the watershed and its runoff flow characteristics.