Land Use/Land Cover Change Impact on Hydrological Process in the Upper Baro Basin, Ethiopia

Understanding the hydrological process associated with Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) change is vital for decision-makers in improving human wellbeing. LU/LC significantly affects hydrology of landscape, caused by anthropogenic activities. The scope this study to investigate impact on Upper Baro Basin years 1987, 2002, and 2017. Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used simulation streamflow. required data SWAT are soils obtained from Food Agriculture Organization; Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were United States Geological Survey (USGS). meteorological such as Rainfall, Temperature, Sunshine, Humidity, Wind Speeds Ethiopian National Meteorological Agency. Data discharge Ministry Water, Irrigation Electricity. Ecosystems deemed vital. Landsat images classify pattern using ERDAS Imagine 2014 software classified Maximum Likelihood Algorithm Supervised Classification. Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) global sensitivity method within Calibration Procedures (SWAT-CUP) identify most sensitive streamflow parameters. calibration carried out observed 01 January 1990 31 December 2002 a validation period 2003 2009. analysis shows that there drastic decrease grassland 15.64% shrubland 9.56% while an increase agricultural land settlement 18.01% 13.01%, respectively, 30 years. evaluation presented annual surface runoff increased 43.53 mm, groundwater flow declined 27.58 lateral 5.63 mm. results showed characteristics changed due during periods 1987–2017 flood frequency, peak flows, base flow, soil erosion, mean discharge. Curve number, available water capacity layer, evaporation composition factor parameters identified Both disclosed good agreement between measured simulated performance statistical test coefficient determination (R2) Nash–Sutcliffe (NS) efficiency values 0.87 0.81 1990–2002 0.84 0.76 2009, respectively. Overall, affected condition watershed. Therefore, different conservation strategies maintain stability resilience ecosystem