Modelling hydrological processes and nutrient retention in plain polders

Application of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is limited in plain polders, where hydrological and nutrient processes are confined by water conservancy facilities such as dikes and pumping stations. Watershed delineation techniques are proposed to enable SWAT to simulate these processes in a plain polder in Jiangxiang Town (Nanchang County, Jiangxi Province, China). Drainage unit division and multiple-outlet modelling approaches are introduced, and the main river network and land features are incorporated into a digital elevation model (DEM), so that drainage unit delineation can agree well with real flow direction and concentration. The impoundments of pumping stations are regarded as functioning like reservoirs, which are set up in the SWAT model to simulate confined hydrological processes. The results show that confined hydrological and nutrient processes in plain polders are simulated well; the retention rates of total nitrogen and total phosphorus are estimated as, respectively, 39% and 29% in both streams and impoundments.