Author(s)

REGINA SANTOS, LUÍS SANCHES FERNANDES, RUI CORTES, FERNANDO PACHECO

Abstract

Hydrological modelling is an important tool for the detailed evaluation of hydrological processes, allowing the analysis of the consequences of current management practices and the prediction of the impact of medium- and long-term agricultural and demographic projections. The present study intends to analyze the water management practices and demographic evolution of the Sabor River basin between 1960 and 2009, and to evaluate the medium- and long-term impact of agricultural and demographic projections. To that end, we used two separate software packages to fulfill the proposed goal, SWAT and MIKE HYDRO Basin. This SWAT was used in the construction of the hydrological model and MIKE HYDRO Basin in the simulation of water allocation, namely irrigation and domestic consumption. Primary results indicate that the low population density recorded in the basin area between 1960 and 2009 was negligible and had no significant impact on the flow. However, as the agricultural area occupies 59% of the basin, the water consumption for irrigation represented, on average, 27% of the streamflow.

Keywords

SWAT, MIKE HYDRO Basin, hydrological modelling, demographic projections, irrigation