Abstract

For human beings, land and water are vital. To enhance agricultural productivity and socio-economic development in the agricultural catchment, irrigation development is an important issue. The present study aims to evaluate the stream flow under land use land cover (LULC) change for surface irrigation in Chemoga catchment part of Abay River Basin. To accomplish the objectives of this study, the watershed model SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used based on organization and website data sources. LULC classification was performed using ERDAS imagine 2014 which was used for further analysis of streamflow in SWAT to evaluate surface irrigation. The selected LULC years, 1994 and 2013 were used to assess the impact on streamflow. The result depicts that in wet season streamflow increases and in the dry season the stream flow decreases respectively for the LULC of 1994 and 2013. The performance of the model during calibration and validation period was good. So watershed management approach should be done in the catchment to improve surface irrigation potential.

Key words: Chemoga catchment, streamflow, land use land cover, SWAT model, surface Irrigation.