WetSpa Model Application for Assessing Reforestation Impacts on Floods in Margecany–Hornad Watershed,Slovakia

The spatially distributed hydrologic model WetSpa working on a daily or hourly time scale combines elevation, soil and landuse data within GIS, to predict flood hydrographs and spatial distribution of hydrologic characteristics in a watershed. The model is applied to the Margecany–Hornad river basin (1,131 km²) located in Slovakia. Daily hydrometeorological data from 1991 to 2000, including precipitation data from nine stations, temperature data from four stations and evaporation data measured at one station are used as input to the model. Three base maps, i.e., DEM, landuse and soil types are prepared in GIS form, using 100×100 m cell size. Results of the simulations show good agreement between calculated and measured hydrographs at the outlet of the basin. The model predicts the daily/hourly hydrographs with good accuracy, between 75–80% according to the Nash–Sutcliff criteria. For assessing the impact of forests on floods, the calibrated model is applied for a reforestation scenario using the hourly data of the summer of 2001. The scenario considers a 50% increase of forest areas. The model results show that the reforestation scenario decreases the peak discharge by 12%. Investigation of peak discharges from the whole simulation period, shows that the scenario results are reduced by 18% on average. Also, the time to peak of the simulated hydrograph of the reforestation scenario is 14 h longer than for the present landuse. The results show that the effect of land cover on flood is strongly related to storm characteristics and antecedent soil moisture.