Estimação de vazão em bacias hidrográficas do sul do Espírito Santo usando o Swat

Abstract

The increasing of world economic activity and the number of inhabitants, along with the unsustainable use of water resources, untreated wastewater release into the environment and inadequate watersheds management, has contributed to water availability decrease on the planet. Despite being a renewable natural resource, the water that returns from the atmosphere does not occur evenly distributed, either in geographic space or in time, making its good management essential to reduce disastrous consequences of extreme events of floods and droughts. But a successful management requires, as well as qualified professionals, the use of support decision tools. In this context, the use of hydrological models can assist in planning and assessment of conservation practices for soil and water and watershed management. In this light, the present study aimed to evaluate the SWAT capability to estimate flow in river basins in the southern of Espírito Santo state, Brazil. The Jaqueira stream watershed (MBJ), with approximately 22.6 ha, and Itapemirim river basin, upstream of the Rive fluviometric station (BIMR), with approximately 2,237 km², were studied. Due to the high number of gaps and short-term hydrological monitoring, was not possible to calibrate and verify model applicability for the MBJ. For BIMR, the analysis of the average flow rate was estimated by 45.5 m³ s-1, before calibration, and 32.6 m³ s-1 after calibration, closely to the monitored average flow, that was 36.9 m³ s-1. For the validation period, the average flow monitored was 22% higher (45.0 m³ s-1), while the estimated flow was 33.9 m³ s-1, remaining closely to the average calibrated estimated flow. In graphical analysis, it was observed that before calibration, the estimated minimum flow rates were below those observed, but the peak flows were overestimated. After calibration, the minimum flows had better correlations, while the peak flows were underestimated. In the analysis of statistical indexes, the R² increased from 0.74 to 0.76, after calibration, but was reduced to 0.63 in the validation period. For the Nash Sufcliffe coefficient, was verified a significant improvement of its value after calibration, from -0.38 to 0.75, remaining with an acceptable value in the validation period, 0.57. The SWAT was able to simulate flows in river basins in the southern of Espírito Santo state, since there were not many gaps in the monitored data, and also being able to simulate data from other periods for which the parameters were not adjusted.