Application of GIS in

Watershed Analysis
Presented by: G.Gopaul
BSc Land Surveying
University of Technology, Mauritius
2013

Application of GIS in Watershed
Analysis
Aim of the Project:

To demonstrate the use of Spatial Analysis ( mainly the
Hydrology tool) to determine the Watershed Areas and
Network of streams for specific regions

To provide necessary inputs for hydrological modelling
such as Flood Prediction Models
Application of GIS in Watershed
Analysis
Study Area : Port Louis
Watershed ?
An area that drains surface water to a common
outlet


A watershed is a hydrological unit used for the
management and planning of natural resources


Watershed Analysis ?
A process of using DEMs and raster data
operations to delineate watersheds and derive
stream networks.
Delineation of watershed can be either
1. Area based : study area is divided into a series of
watersheds
2. Point based : watershed derived for selected points
Used by local authorities in
Watershed Management Programs
Flood Prediction
etc

Watershed Analysis
Methodology (Flowchart)

Watershed
Model
Area Based
Watershed Model
Point Based
Hydrology Tools
The hydrology tool is found under the Spatial Analyst Tools
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of
Port Louis
(Resolution 10m)
DEM is the main data
required for Watershed
analysis

The DEM of Port Louis
has been obtain with the
courtesy of the
Cartography Section of
the Ministry of Housing
and Lands
Step 1. Flow direction
Flow directions simplified: Dump a bucket of
water on your surface and see which of way it
flows!
Shows the direction water will flow out of each
cell of a filled elevation raster.
ArcGIS uses the D8 method to derive flow
direction
D8 Method : assign a cells flow direction to one of
its 8 surrounding cells that has the steepest
distance weighted gradient.

Flow Direction for cell ( D8 Method)
1014 1011 1004
1019 1015 1007
1025 1021 1012
+1 +4 +11
-4 +8
-10 -6 +3
+0.71 +4 +7.78
-4 +8
-7.07 -6 +2.12
1
1
1.414
Cell Elevation Elevation difference Distance weight
Distance weight Gradient
Flow direction
32 64 128
16 1
8 4 2
Flow direction
Number
Flow direction using ArcToolbox
Flow direction raster
Step 2. Flow accumulation
Flow accumulation simplified: Accumulate flow for each
cell considering ALL uphill cells!

Used to estimate rainfall volume within a watershed and
delineates drainage.

A flow accumulation raster tabulates for each cell the
number of cells that will flow to it.

A flow accumulation raster records how many upstream
cells will contribute drainage to each cell ( the cell itself is
not counted).
Flow Accumulation in cell
1014 1011 1004 996
1019 1015 1007 999
1025 1021 1012 1003
1033 1029 1020 1003
Cell Elevation
Flow direction
0 0 1 2
0 0 2 5
0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
Flow accumulation
From To
0 1
1 2
2 3
3 4
4 5
Flow accumulation using Arc
Toolbox
Flow accumulation raster
Step 3. Identify and removing sink
Sinks are depression in DEMs.
Sink is surrounded by higher cell. It can artificially terminate streams
by trapping flow.
It is caused by possible error in the elevation data and need to be
removed before attempting hydrological analysis.
The hydrologic analysis tools allow to identify sinks and also to fill
them.
Sink

Filling Sinks
Filling sinks is an iterative process.
Sink cell values are changed to equal neighboring
elevation cell values. Lowest value is used.
Fill to lowest
Neighboring cell
Step 3 - Identify sink using Arc Toolbox
FlowDir_dem1 as input flow direction raster
Sink raster
A total of 1819 sinks found
Step 4 -Fill Sink using Arc Toolbox
Original dem as input surface raster

Filled sink DEM
Using filled sink DEM
Step 5: New Flow direction raster using
filled sink DEM.

Step 6: New Flow Accumulation raster
using this new Flow direction raster.

Flow Direction raster and Flow Accumulation
raster
using filled sink DEM
Step 7. Stream network
We can use the flow accumulation grid to identify
drainage courses by extracting those cells with the
highest accumulated flow values ( cell contains the most
water are stream channel).

We can create a drainage network of any detail by
choosing the appropriate volume values

Choice of threshold value can be arbitrary. It should be
corresponding to high resolution topographic maps of
filed maps.
Stream Network using ArcToolbox
Flow
accumulation
as input
conditional
raster
Set 1 as
constant value
Expression:
Value >
400(contributing
cells)
Stream Network raster
Stream network on Flow
accumulation raster
Step 8. Stream Links
After a stream network is derived from a
flow accumulation raster, each section of
the stream raster line is assigned a unique
value and is associated with a flow
direction.

37
35
36
Arbitrarily assign unique values to each link of the stream networks.

Stream link using Arc Toolbox
Stream network as input stream raster
Stream Link
Step 9. Stream Order
Assign a numeric order to stream link. Use either
Shreve (true) or Strahler (false) ordering
methods.
Stream order using Arc Toolbox
streaml_con_1 as input stream raster.
Stream ordering method is STRAHLER
Stream Order raster
Step 10. Stream as Shape object
The stream link raster file can be
converted into line feature class.

Streams can be represented as shape file.
Stream to Feature using Arc
Toolbox
Streaml_con_1 as input stream raster
Stream as Shape file
Step11. Watershed Analysis
Watersheds delineate a drainage area.
Drainage basin, water sheds, basin, catchments area,
and contributing area are synonymous terms referring to
an area of drainage that contributes water to a common
outlets (pour points).
Pour
Point
Water
sheds
Watershed using Arc Toolbox
(Area Based Method)
stream link as input raster
Watershed Raster (area based)
Unique
Basins
Pour Points Method
Pour Points are outlets or points of interest.
Analysis follows same procedure as area wide watershed analysis
but uses a point raster for stream link
Determining drainage catchment area for Le Pouce Stream and
Place DArmes

Place DArmes
Outlet of
Le Pouce Stream
Snap Pour Points
The Snap Pour Point tool is used to ensure
the selection of points of high accumulated
flow when delineating drainage basins
using the Watershed tool.
Snap Pour Point will search within a snap
distance around the specified pour points
for the cell of highest accumulated flow and
move the pour point to that location.
Snap distance used : 10m
Running the Watershed Analysis for points
of Interest using Model builder in ArcGIS
Le Pouce Stream Watershed
Place DArmes Watershed
RESULTS
Limitations
Accuracy and resolution of DEM
All spatial analysis will depend on the
resolution of the DEM and its Accuracy in
depicting the surface it represents.
Conclusion
Watershed Analysis is a basic tool for
further hydrological analysis such as:-
1. Flood Prediction Models
2. Surface Erosion
3. Surface Run Off
4. A framework for Ecosystem Management

Thank You