Hydrosedimentological modeling in the Jaguarí river basin

Abstract

The present work was developed in the context of the Conservador das Águas project, in the city of Extrema, MG. This project realizes the payment through environmental services for the farmers who participate in the soil and water conservation actions in their property. These actions aim to reduce water erosion and increase water infiltration, to recharge the aquifers and maintain the flow in the water courses. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to evaluate the hydrological processes, mainly related to water erosion, in the Jaguarí River Basin and the Posses Sub-basin, with the use of hydrosedimentological and geostatistical models. The spatial distribution of monthly and annual rainfall erosivity in the Jaguarí River Basin was obtained with good precision and accuracy. Another study was done to test a transfer of parameters calibrated with the SWAT hydrological model in a basin to another contiguous basin. In this way, satisfactory results were obtained for the daily and monthly flow simulations, which may allow to model an ungauged basin. The SWAT was also tested in a small watershed, to estimate the average monthly flow and the discharge of solids in the river, with satisfactory results. However, it was observed that the model is not sensitive to changes in soil use in relation to the landscape soil losses and in the discharge of solids in the river. Therefore, it cannot be used in this type of scenario. It was possible to test the use of modeling in different conditions, in order to provide important information for an evaluation of the services in the scope of the Water Producer program.