“

Surface Runoff Estimation Using

SCS Curve Number Method
”
Sawat Basin, Munda Dam Site

Muhammad Sufyan
2017(F)-MS-WRE-106
Sufyan Wahab
2017(F)-MS-WRE-106
Introduction

 A ‘basin’, also known as watershed is the area covering all the land which receives
precipitation and contributes runoff to a common point or drains into a stream or river.
Each basin has definite characteristics such as size, shape, slope, soil, land use, climate
and geomorphology.
 A river basin also known as drainage basin, is an area which is drained by a river and its
tributaries.
 Runoff is defined as a portion of rainfall which leaves the field/basin either surface or
sub-surface.
 ‘Surface runoff’ (overland flow) is the flow of water when the excess water from
precipitation (storm) or other sources flows over the land surface. Runoff is affected by
type of storm, rainfall intensity, rainfall duration, rainfall frequency, areal extent and
season
SCS CN Method

 The SCS curve number method is a simiple, widely used and

efficient method for determining the approxient amount of
runoff from a rainfall even in a particular area.
 Although the method is designed for a single storm event, it can
be scaled to find average annual runoff values.
 The stat requirements for this method are very low, rainfall
amount and curve number. The curve number is based on the
area's hydrologic soil group, land use , treatment and hydrologic
condition. The land use being of greatest importance
Study Area

 Our study area is Swat River Basin. It is further divided into 4 sub-basins named as
Upper Swat, Panjkhora, Amabahr and Lower Swat which contribute flows in the
swat river. Munda dam also known as Mohmand dam site is located on Swat River
after contribution of all sub-basins.
 Mohmand Dam site is located on Swat River, about 5 km upstream of existing
Munda Headworks at Abazai near Shabqadar Deri, in KPK province, about 48 Km
north of Peshawar.
 The reservoir area of the dam extends upstream to Mohamand and Bajaur
Agencies, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The total length of the
reservoir is approximately 56 Km, the command area is spread across three
administrative units namely, Mohmand Agency, Malakand Agency and Tehsil Tangi
of district Charsadda. Munda Dam lies lies between geographic Latitude 34⁰ 21’
12” N to 35⁰ 15’ 21’’N and Longitude 71⁰ 15’ 58.71” E to 72⁰ 45’ 31’’ E about 37
km north of Peshawar near Charsaddah in Mohmand Agency, Federally
Administrative Tribal Area (FATA). Total area of basin is 13650 km2.
Study Area

 The typical weather of this region ranges from sub-humid to semi arid and
moderate.

 Geomorphology of the area has a principal effect on the local climate.

 Precipitation happens because of the monsoons and westerly winds.

 The average rainfall ranges from 30 cm to 100 cm. the precipitation is more
frequent in winter than that of summer
Objective

 Rainfall-Runoff Modelling

 To familiarize with the use of ArcGIS Software.

Methodology
 Definition of map (DEM) and the boundaries of watershed for the calculation of
curve number as well as area of watershed.

 Watershed Delineation

 Mapping the soil type and land use for the watershed.

 Converting the soil types to Hydrologic Soil Groups.

 Overlaying the land use map and hydrologic soil group maps, identifying each
unique land use soil group polygon and determination of the area of each
polygon.
Methodology
 Assigned a curve number to each unique polygon, based on standard SCS
curve number table.
 Finding the weighted curve number and calculating potential maximum
retention (S) using eq.

and Initial Abstraction (Ia) using eq.

 Calculation of the daily, monthly and annually runoff using eq.

Calculations

Annual Rainfall (mm)

Years Rainfall
1991 1965.8
1992 1273.7
1993 1469.8
1994 1619.7
1995 2543.4
1996 1713.2
1997 1830.4
1998 3043.9
1999 1830.4
2000 1183.2
Watershed Delineation &
Land Use
Curve Number Calculation
Results
Conclusions

 The weighted CN computed for this river basin is 71.

 Max. Runoff is estimated to be 2923 mm in the year 1998.

 Min. Runoff is estimated to be 1067 mm in the year 2000.

 Results are seen not to be feasible. Various reasons are there. As the SCS method is
not suitable for larger areas and also it is used for the single event storm and on
daily data. We used basins conditions same throughout the year which is not
feasible.