Assessment of seasonal sedimentation in rain-fed irrigation reservoirs by a hillslope erosion modeling approach

A distributed hillslope model is presented for the computation of seasonal sediment loads flowing into the rain-fed irrigation reservoirs (tanks) from the mountainous catchments in Sri Lanka. The model is based on the subdivision of the catchment into hillslopes and application of a sediment transport capacity equation at hillslope scale and computation of sediment loads transported to the tanks. Coarse and fine sediment loads due to hourly excess rainfall during a season are separately estimated. The model depends on fewer parameters and can be easily calibrated for a tank. The model calibration only requires measurements of coarse and fine sediment loads transported into the tank due to several rainfalls of different intensities from a representative subcatchment of the tank. Coarse sediment loads are measured by using a sediment trap installed across an ephemeral stream draining the subcatchment. Fine sediment loads are obtained by measuring the discharge and accompanied sediment concentrations over the sediment trap. The model is calibrated, verified and applied for an irrigation tank in Sri Lanka to estimate the seasonal sedimentation loads.