Land Use and Climate Change Impacts on Flow Rate and Non-point pollution
sources in Drinking Water Basins: Namazgah Dam Basin
Abstract
Successful water resource planning and management can be ensured by
understanding the hydrological response of watersheds and non-point
pollutions to land use/land cover and climatic changes. This study aims
to present the effects of climate and land-use changes on hydrological
processes and NPS pollutions to help prepare accurate water management
policies based on their impacts. In this study, the Soil and Water
Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to predict climate and land-use
impacts on flow rate and non-point pollutions (NPS) in Namazgah Dam
Basin in Turkey. Two different climate change scenarios, RCP 4.5 and RCP
8.5, and land-use scenarios, conversion of shrubland to forest and
conversion of agricultural areas to the forest, were used, and
statistical analyses were utilized to assess the results. At the end of
this study, it was predicted that there would be an increase in
phosphorus and nitrate loads and a decrease in streamflow rate.