Adequacy of IHACRES Model on Streamflow Resulting from Landuse Changes in A Mauritius Catchment

Abstract

Land use and land cover (LULC) play an important role in the catchment hydrology, regulating the transfer of water within the system. Mauritius is a tropical island of volcanic origin in the Indian Ocean which has been subjected to a considerable industrialization in the last two decades, seriously altering its LULC patterns. In this study, the authors have tried to assess the change in the hydrological regime such as surface runoff of a catchment in Mauritius with respect to the land cover changes. The IHACRES (Identification of unit Hydrographs And Component flows from Rainfall, Evaporation and Streamflow data) model has been used to analyze the different scenarios associated with the catchment. Moreover, the observed and simulated runoff values over a period of 10 years are compared. Simulation results lead us to conclude that land use change have a major impact on the volume of streamflow. It has been observed that due to reduction of vegetation area the streamflow volume has nearly doubled for a time interval of one decade.