Analysis of Watersheds in Gandaki Province, Nepal Using QGIS
Analysis of Watersheds in Gandaki Province, Nepal Using QGIS
Analysis of Watersheds in Gandaki Province, Nepal Using QGIS
1, July 2019
Nepal Engineers' Association, Gandaki Province
ISSN : 2676-1416 (Print)
Pp.: 16-28
Abstract
Gandaki province has the good potentiality of hydro-electricity generation with existing twenty-
nine hydro-electricity projects. Since the Province is rich in water resources, analysis of watersheds
needs to be done for management, planning and identification of water as well as natural resources.
GIS offers integration of spatial and no spatial data to understand and analyze the watershed
processes and helps in drawing a plan for integrated watershed development and management. The
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) available on the NASA-Earth data has been taken as a primary data
for morphometric analysis of watershed in Gandaki Province using QGIS. Delineation of watershed
was conducted from a DEM by computing the flow direction and using it in the Watershed tool.
Necessary fill sink correction was made before proceeding to delineation. A raster representing
the direction of flow was created using Flow Direction tool to determine contributing area. Flow
accumulation raster was created from flow direction raster using Flow Accumulation Tool. A point-
based method has been used to delineate watershed for each selected point. The selected point may
be an outlet, a gauge station or a dam. The annual rainfall data from ground meteorological stations
has been used in QGIS to generate rainfall map for the study of rainfall pattern in the province
and watersheds using IDW Interpolation method. The present research work provides some major
morphometric watershed parameters like drainage area, flow length, slope, drainage density and
rainfall patterns for watersheds in Gandaki Province. Furthermore, the parameters were compared
among the watersheds in Kaski. The results of this study can be used as a reference for proposing
infrastructures in those watersheds and it can also be used for making policy by local government
authorities related to Energy, Water Resources, Irrigation, and Infrastructures.
Keywords: Hydrologic analysis; Hydrologic modeling; Watershed parameters; Morphometric
parameters; Phewa watershed.
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1. Introduction (2018) performed hydrologic analysis for the
Gandaki province has the good potentiality of purpose of designing storm water drainage in the
hydro-electricity generation with existing 29 area of Lamachaur, Pokhara, Nepal. They found
hydro-electricity projects (Sahayogee, n.d.). the existing drainage system of Lamachaur area
Number of lakes and perennial rivers can be is inadequate to safely discharge the surface
attributed to the richness in water resources in water based on hydrologic analysis. Since the
this province. The province is drained by the Gandaki Province is rich in water resources,
tributaries of the river Gandaki (Kali Gandaki, the comprehensive hydrological study of
Budhi Gandaki, Seti Gandaki, Marshyangdi, watersheds yet to be done by local government
Madi, Daraundi, and Seti). This province is and authorities related to water resource for
rich in lakes as well with Phewa, Rupa, Begnas, management, planning and identification of
Khaste, Dipang, and Tilicho lakes to name a water as well as natural resources. Basnet et
few. According to the Statistic Office Kaski, al. (2018) conducted comparative hydrological
Central Bureau Statistics, the Gandaki Province study of common approaches used for calculation
covers an area of 21,773 km2 which is about of design discharge. They concluded that the
14.66% of the total area of Nepal. The Province Catchment Area Ratio method found to be
is extending between 27°-20' N to 29°-20' N suitable one for estimating the design discharge
latitude and 82°-52' E to 85°-12' E longitude. In of Padhu Khola, Kaski, Nepal. The present
terms of terrain, the province is spread over the research performed hydrologic modeling to
Himalayan, Hilly and Terai regions of Nepal; study watersheds within Gandaki Province.
5,919 km2 (26.8%) of the area falls under The major focus was given to Kaski District
the Himalayan region, 14,604 km2 (67.2%) and Phewa Watershed (see Figure 1 and Figure
of the area falls under the Hilly region, and 2). The Phewa Lake Watershed (28°11′39″ to
1,310 km2 (6%) of the area falls under 28°17′25″ N and 83°47′51″ to 83°59′17″ E) is
the Terai region (Province Profile, Province a micro region of the hill of Nepal. It lies in the
No. 4). Hydrological studies are important west of Pokhara Metropolitan City (Former
and necessary for water and environmental Pokhara Sub-metropolitan City) covering about
resources management. Demands from society 122.53 km2 area with the elevation from the sea
on the predictive capabilities of such study level between 793 m and 2508.81 m. Some 5.75
and analysis of hydrological parameters are km2 area of Phewa Lake watershed realm lies in
becoming higher and higher, leading to the need Pokhara City and occupies 38% population of
of enhancing existing research theories and the city (Aryal, 2007).
even on developing new theories. For example,
hydrological analysis is critical to design road
side drains for better management of storm water
in major cities of Nepal. Basnet and Neupane
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and sub-basins and determine
morphometric parameters: (a) Drainage
Area, (b) Watershed Length, (c) Watershed
Slope, (d) Flow Length, (e) Drainage
Density, and (f) Watershed Shape Factors
using QGIS.
c) To use rainfall data from TRMM and
ground meteorological stations to generate
rainfall map of sub-basins.
Figure 1: Map of Gandaki Province Recently, Nepal has gone into federal system
(Source: Provincial Government, Gandaki Province) and there are challenges for every province to
manage administrative system first, secondly
the management of water resource in order
to prioritize the major concern. In Gandaki
Province where there are numbers of lakes
and water basins exist, it is very important to
manage these water resources and watersheds
for proper development of the province and for
predicting and managing future water demand.
One of the major tasks for this would be analysis
of watersheds in Gandaki Province. Watershed
Figure 2: Landsat (MSS, OLI and TM) analysis provides not only their boundaries
image of Phewa watershed (Source: United but also hydrological parameters useful for
States Geological Survey web portal: http:// management programs like decision making.
earthexplorer.usgs.gov) It helps in flood prediction modeling and snow
melt runoff models and provides necessary
The main goal of the present research work is
inputs for hydrological modeling. Being
to determine morphometric parameters of the
concentrated on the analysis of watersheds in
watersheds in Gandaki Province of Nepal using
Gandaki Province, especially near Kaski area,
QGIS. Specifically, the research work intends
this research work has various significances
to achieve the following objectives:
(e.g., water management programs, water
a) To acquire and generate GIS data layers resource identification and management, and
for study area. These layers include flood prediction and control).
Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), digital
As the purpose of this study was to generate
raster graphic maps (DRGs), National,
watershed parameters/characteristics for
Provincial and District boundaries.
control point in Gandaki Province in basic level,
b) To use DEM to delineate the watersheds
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morphometric characteristics of watersheds 2.2 Watershed Delineation Steps
are only the output of this study in general. Authors proceed through a series of steps as
Detail study needs advanced level analysis shown in Figure 3 while delineating watersheds
considering discharge, interbrain flow, etc. This or defining stream networks.
study uses 30 m DEM for analysis of sub-basins
in the Gandaki Province, the DEM also have Z
accuracies generally between 10 m and 25 m
root mean square error (RMSE).
Volume 1 Issue 1 21
management and planning should be the top
concern of the Gandaki Province Government
(Officially, Government of Gandaki Pradesh).
Watershed analysis can be one of the key ideas
for the management and planning of water and
natural resources. Watersheds parameters can be
used as a reference for proposing infrastructures
in those watersheds and it can also be used for
making policy by local government authorities
(a) Result from this study related to Energy,
(b) From Water Resources, Irrigation,
Subedi (2013)
and Infrastructures.
Provincial boundary of Nepal, officially the
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, can
be seen in Figure 8. Gandaki Province is one
of the seven provinces of Nepal. This layer
was acquired from Geo Portal Nepal official
website and necessary processing was done
by using QGIS Desktop 2.18 program for the
presentation. Figure 9 shows the major rivers
of Nepal and Hydrological Stations; the rivers
(b) from Subedi (2013)
were delineated from ASTER Global DEM
Figure 7: Comparison of Kaski District
available freely upon request on NASA-Earth
Streams with previous study
data with spatial resolution of 30m x 30m. The
Table 1: Comparison of major parameters for location of hydrological Station was taken from
present research and previous studies Department of Hydrology and Meteorology
S. Parameters This Study
Subedi Aryal
Remarks (DHM) official website. These station locations
N. (2013) (2007)
Area
were taken as a reference to choose outlets of
1. 121.61 km2 119.89 km2 122.53 km2 Comparable
derived sub-basins. Sub-basins in Gandaki Province that
2. Shape As shown As shown - Comparable
are delineated using ASTER Global DEM are
Stream
3.
Network
As shown As shown - Comparable presented in Figure 10. From the analysis it was
4. DEM (m.)
12.5 m x 30.0 m x
-
Used fine DEM found that there are nine numbers of sub-basins
12.5 m 30.0 m in this study
Phewa
in Gandaki Province, where only two of them
5. Outlet - - Same
Dam completely lie within the province boundary and
6. Software QGIS Arc GIS - -
they are East Seti Sub-Basin and Marshyangdi
3.2 Watershed Analysis of Gandaki Province Sub-Basin. The rest seven sub-basins are
Being rich in water resources, water partially lying in the Gandaki Province. The
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majority of area is occupied by Kali Gandaki to prepare rainfall map which helps to study
Sub-Basin with 11839.8 km2 drainage area and current trends of rainfall in the province.
minimum area is occupied by East Seti Sub-
Basin with 2959.02 km2 drainage area. East Kaski District
(Area: 2,017 km2)
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Figure 10: Sub-basins of Gandaki Province
Table 2 contd.: Morphometric parameters of sub-basins
WS Shape Annual
Elevation
Watershed Slope
Factor Precipitation
Elongation
Circularity
S. N.Sub Basins
High Low
(mm.)
(mm.)
(m.) (m.)
Ratio
Ratio
Max.
Min.
Kali Gandaki
1 5020 180 0.0123 2.232 0.312 4990 195
Sub-Basin
Marshyangdi
2 4333 261 0.0244 1.806 0.469 3550 330
Sub-Basin
East Seti Sub-
3 4631 219 0.0307 1.714 0.427 4950 1450
Basin
Figure 11: Annual Precipitation of Nepal 4
Thuli Bheri Sub-
5368 226 0.0156 2.120 0.400 2750 340
Basin
East Rapti Sub-
5 2068 124 0.0087 2.072 0.348 2810 1935
Basin
West Rapti Sub-
6 2492 125 0.0078 2.286 0.293 2700 1335
Basin
Tinahu Sub-
7 781 82 0.0076 1.870 0.834 2585 1705
Basin
Budhi Gandaki
8 5560 326 0.0411 1.950 0.533 3175 950
Sub-Basin
Trishuli Sub-
9 5350 180 0.0236 2.350 0.330 3175 995
Basin
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3.3 Watershed Analysis in Kaski District Annapurna Range in the northern side is always
Kaski, a part of Gandaki Province is one of the full of snow. The beautiful scenery of northern
seventy-seven districts of Nepal. Kaski district mountains, gorge of Seti River, Davis Falls,
with Pokhara as its district headquarter, covers natural caves, Fewa Lake, and Begnas Lake
2,017 km2 area. The altitude of Kaski district are the main attractions. Major river networks
ranges from 450 m the lowest land to 8,091 m in Kaski district are shown in Figure 13. Seti,
the highest point in the Himalaya range. Kaski Madi, Modi, and Mardi Khola are major rivers
district covers parts of the Annapurna mountain that flow from the upper Himalayas range and
range. The district is full of rivers such as Seti contribute most of water demand of people and
Gandaki, Modi, and Madi along with other infrastructure projects like hydropower and
rivulets. The district headquarters Pokhara lies irrigation. A DEM of 12.5 m spatial resolution
about 750 m above the sea level and is one of has been taken from Alaska Satellite Facility.
the best tourist destinations in the world. The The stream networks (rivers) were generated
district is famous for the Himalayan range from flow accumulation raster, where threshold
with about eleven Himalayas with altitude was taken as 25 km2.
greater than 7000 m. The famous Peaks include
Machhapuchhre (Virgin Peak – 6993 m). The
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Figure 13: Major Rivers in Kaski District
Watersheds and stream network delineated Table 3: Watersheds in Kaski District: Fact and
within Kaski district can be visualized in Figure Figures
14. This layer was derived from point-based S.
Watersheds
Area
% Area Major Stream
N. (Km2)
watershed delineation method. The outlet points South Annapurna
1. 160.109 8.76% Modi Khola
Glacier Watershed
(point of interest) ware manually allocated to Machhapuchhre Glacier
2. 117.439 6.43% Seti River
the stream location with higher accumulation Watershed
Madme Khola Madme Khola
3. 162.675 8.90%
and lowest elevation. Flow direction raster and Watershed Madi Khola
Upper Modi Khola
snap pour point raster - which were derived 4.
Watershed
173.339 9.48% Modi Khola
Upper Seti River
from flow accumulation raster and point of 5.
Watershed
135.883 7.43% Seti River
Upper Madi Khola
interests - were used to delineate watersheds. 6. 188.503 10.31% Madi Khola
Watershed
Table 3 show name, area and major stream of the 7.
Lower Modi Khola
66.109 3.62% Modi Khola
Watershed
thirteen watersheds derived from the analysis. 8. Mardi Khola Watershed 233.693 12.79%
Mardi Khola
Seti River
Study shows that the Seti-Bijaypur Watershed 9.
Lower Madi Khola
130.051 7.12% Madi Khola
Watershed
has higher drainage area of 267.378 km2 and 10. Phewa Lake Watershed 121.610 6.65% Harpan Khola
Dovan Khola
Rupa Lake Watershed has lowest drainage area 11. Rupa Lake Watershed 31.781 1.74%
Tabesi Khola
12. Begnas Lake Watershed 39.239 2.15% Khudi Khola
of 31.781 km2. Seti River
13. Seti-Bijaypur Watershed 267.378 14.63%
Bijaypur Khola
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