Rainfall-runoff model for flood risk management at Kesbawa

South watershed in Colombo District

Advanced Surface and Groundwater Hydrology (CE5813)

Problem Based Learning Project

Karma Yangzom Dorji

Master of Science in Water Resources Engineering and Management

Department of Civil Engineering
University of Moratuwa

Sri Lanka

Email Address: karmayangzomdorjey@gmail.com.

Title
Rainfall Runoff Model For Flood Risk Management at Kesbewa South Watershed in Colombo
District

1.Introduction
Floods are among the most dramatic forms interaction between man and its environment. The
type of flooding predominant in the study area is perennial flooding caused by heavy rainfall.
Flood removes significant amount of topsoil which contains higher level of organic matter and

nutrients hence resulting in great loss to agricultural productivity. Floods also disrupt in drainage
and sewage systems, presenting a serious health hazard resulting from pollution and water borne-
disease. The unpredictable increment of rainfal intensity and occurrences causes serious damages
to the environment and human with high economic losses. Numerical Hydrological models can
be applied in the planning of management facilities to analyze the situation as a systematic
approach to estimate the water quantities to the considered problems within the watershed. Such
models are used to predict runoff volumes and peak discharge rates associated with certain
recurrence interval or return periods.

A rainfall runoff model is a mathematical model describing the rainfall-runoff relations of a

rainfall catchment area, drainage basin or watershed. As the output it produces the surface
runoff hydrograph as a response to a rainfall hydrograph as input.The model calculates the
conversion of rainfall into runoff.

In this problem base learning, a watershed area of 1.42 square kilometers in Kesbawa South
under Colombo district is selected as the study area. The water sectors involved are domestic,
agriculture, water supply and sanitation, industrial, commercial and environmental sectors. The
major problem identified in the watershed area was the flooding of low land areas during
monsoon period and it has become a major issue of concern. The people in the area are
immensely affected with destruction of property and damage to paddy fields. The peak discharge
of a flood should be calculated which is influenced by the intensity and the duration of storms,
the topography and geology of the basin, vegetation and hydrologic conditions preceding storms.
In abandoned paddy areas, the water get trapped and stagnant with facilitating mosquito
favorable environment causing health issues in the watershed. Due to flooding low areas, the
toilet pits are overflown with the accumulated water and people get affected. Thus the
groundwater in the area also has been polluted and remains there in several months.

Considering the facts, it is necessary to do rainfall runoff model at the outlet the watershed to
mitigate the critical problems. Hydrological parameters for Flooding are Peak discharge and the
Return period. This influence has become vulnerable with narrowing water storage capacity day
by day and resulted flash flood in the low lands. Thus it is very important to provide a
sustainable hydrological solution by evaluating the situation by ABCD water balance model for
the watershed to avoid economical and social loss.

2. Problem Identification
The major problem identified in the selected catchment area is the flooding of low land areas

during monsoon season. The catchment experiences floods due to high intensity rainfall, the
top soil gets watshed away causing poor or no agriculture production. Hence it is very
important to find out how much part of the enormous flood run-off is contributed directly by
rainfall.

This problem can be associated with inadequate capacity of existing culvert during heavy

rainfall and improper maintainace of the existing culvets. Increasing population in the
selected catchment, people carrying out different types of socio-economic

developmental activities, improper drainage system and management are also some of the
problems identified. Since the garbage collection is not properly done available drains are

blocked during the rains, resulted severe floods even in small rain. The changes in land use
associated with urban development affect flooding in many ways. Removing vegetation and soil,
grading the land surface, and constructing drainage networks increase runoff to streams from
rainfall. As a result, the peak discharge, volume, and frequency of floods increase. Changes to
stream channels during urban development can limit their capacity to convey floodwaters. Roads
and buildings constructed in flood-prone areas are exposed to increased flood hazards, including
inundation and erosion. These problems need to be managed with a systematic way as it will
propagate to a disaster in quantity and quality of water in future if the problems are neglected in
present condition.

3. Description of Project area

The identification of the catchment was done using 1:50,000 Topo maps and Google Earth Pro.
The catchment is located in Kesbawa South in Colombo district. The size of the culvert at the
outlet is __ m in diameter. The water sectors involved are domestic, agriculture, water supply and
sanitation, industrial, commercial and environmental sectors

Table1: Land use Pattern

Land use Unit Area %

Residential sq km

Agriculture sq km

Forest sq km

sq km

sq km
4. Problem solving approach / methodology
Flooding as mentioned above can be associated with problems of inadequate culvert capacity and
improper drainage system and management. Hence estimation of peak flow of discharge at the
outlet for proper design and management is essential.

Rational method can be used to estimate peak flow at the outlet of the catchment. The rational
method is a simple technique for estimating design discharge from a small watershed.
Application of the rational method is based on a simple formula that relates runoff-producing
potential of the watershed, the average intensity of rainfall for a particular length of time (the
time of concentration), and the watershed drainage area.

Formula: Q= CiA

Where Q= design discharge, C= runoff coefficient, i = design rainfall intensity, A= watershed

drainage area

The basic assumptions in rational method are:

1. Uniformity of rainfall intensity over the whole catchment for the duration of design storm
2. The time of concentration is equal to the catchment time concentration
3. The recurrence level of peak discharge is equal to the rainfall intensity.
5. Project area map