Hourly Analyses of Hydrological and Water Quality Simulations Using the ESWAT Model

Detailed analyses of hydrological and water quality variables are very important to study the dynamic processes in a river basin. In this study, we have further modified the Enhanced Soil and Water Assessment Tool (ESWAT) model by incorporating hourly evapotranspiration and overland flow routing modules. Results from comparison of the performances by two ESWAT versions indicate that the modified version performed better than the original model. The modified ESWAT model has reasonably reproduced observed time series runoff and most commonly collected water quality data. In addition, input data availability at required spatial and temporal resolutions is the major bottleneck in implementing many detailed hydrological models. In this paper, we have also developed a robust methodology to successfully disaggregate daily rainfall data into hourly datasets. Furthermore, we have assessed the implications of such daily rainfall disaggregation schemes on subsequent simulation of hydrological and water quality variables at river basin level. The outcomes suggest that the multivariate rainfall disaggregation scheme better reproduced observed rainfall and runoff data. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009