Assessment of the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Surface Runoff of Hadejia River System, Kano, Nigeria

Land use and land cover changes, mostly driven by anthropogenic activities, affect the processes of the water cycle. The impacts of land use (LU) and land cover (LC) changes between 1995 and 2015 on the surface runoff of the Hadejia River System (HRS) were investigated. The LULC changes obtained through re-classifications of selected Landsat satellite images and their effects on runoff peak discharges and volumes were assessed using selected hydrologic models for runoff generation and routing available within the HEC-HMS. Physically-based parameters of the models were estimated from the LULC change maps together with a digital elevation model and soil datasets of the basin. The simulated flows from the 90 sub-catchments were routed to the basin outlet afterwards to obtain the accrued effects in the entire river basin. Model results obtained generally revealed significant and varying increases in the runoff peak discharges and volumes within some sub-basins in the whole catchment, though the change was not significant at the basin outlet. In the sub-catchments within Kano and Jigawa states, increase between 15-20% and 10-15% were observed in the peak discharge respectively. These are the areas with the highest increase in agricultural activities and urbanization within the whole catchment.  In the entire basin, however, the flood peak discharges and volumes increased by at least 3.57% and 8.18% respectively. From these results, the study concludes that changes were more pronounced in Kano and Jigawa states due to the increase of urbanization and farming activities in those areas, leading to reduction of infiltration and hence, increase in surface runoff. The study successfully outlined the hydrological consequences of land cover changes, emphasizing the importance of sustainable land use and catchment management strategies. Hence, integration of remote sensing, GIS, and the hydrological model (HEC-HMS) can be used to solve hydrological problems in a river basin.

HEC-HMS model, land use change, river network, runoff

1. K. M. Abera, (2017). “Assessing the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Hydrology of Kesem Watershed in Awash Basin, Ethiopia”. M.Sc. Thesis, Dept. of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Institute of Technology, School of Graduate Studies Arba Minch University, 2017. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. E. Agulue, N. Okoye, O. I. Samuel and F. N. Kelechi. “Assessment of Land use and Landover Changes and Its Implications to Flooding along Omambala Flood Plain, Anambra State”, International Journal of Geography and Geology, Vol. 9, No. 1, Pp. 71-83, 2020. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. K. U. E. Attikora, “Flood Inundation Modeling in the Gourou Watershed, Côte D Ivoire” Msc Thesis, Pan-African University Institute for Water and Energy Sciences, (Including Climate Change), Côte D Ivoire, West Africa, 2019. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. A. U. Da'u, F. R. Mohammad, I. T. Abubakar, R. J. Nor, A. Z. Muhammad. “Detection and Prediction of Land Use Change Impact on the Streamflow Regime in Sahelian River Basin, Northwestern Nigeria”, H2Open Journal, vol 4 (1), pp 92–113, 2021. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. A Gi-Choul, S.I. Gordon and J.C. Merry. “Impacts of Remotely Sensed Land Use Data on Watershed Hydrologic Change Assessment”. International Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, article 9, 2014. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. B. J. M. Goes. “Effects of river regulation on aquatic macrophyte growth and floods in The Hadejia- Nguru wetlands and flow in the Yobe River, northern Nigeria; implications for future water management”. River Res. Appl. Vol 18, pp 81–95, 2001. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. A. N. A. Hamdan, S. Almuktar and M. Scholz. “Rainfall-Runoff Modeling Using the HEC-HMS Model for the Al-Adhaim River Catchment, Northern Iraq”. Hydrology, vol. 8(2), pp.58, 2021. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Y. Hamed, R. Hadji, B. Redhaounia, K. Zighmi, F. Baali and A. El Gayar. “Climate Impact on Surface and Groundwater in North Africa: A Global Synthesis of Findings and Recommendations”, Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration. Vol.3:15, 2018. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. C.R. Jacobson. “Identification and quantification of the hydrological impacts of imperviousness in urban catchments: a review.” Journal of environmental management, vol. 92(6), pp. 1438–1448, 2011. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. K. Jeevika and B. Jagritee. “Rainfall-Runoff Simulation and Modeling Using HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS Models: Case Studies from Nepal and Sweden. Hydrologic and Hydraulic Model Development for Flood Inundation Mapping of Kävlinge and Kankai River Basin” MSc Thesis. Dept. of Building & Environmental Technology Lund University, Sweden, 2016. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Y. W. Jia, H.L. Zhao, C. W. Niu, Y. Z. Jiang, H. Gan,, Z. Xing, X. L. Zhao and Z. X. Zhao. “A Web GIS-based system for rainfall-runoff prediction and real-time water resources assessment for Beijing”, Computers & Geosciences vol 35 (7), pp. 1517–1528, 2009. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. A. S. Kazaure. “Flood Simulation Using Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission Digital Elevation Model in Hadejia River Basin, Nigeria”. Msc Thesis, Universiti Putra, Malaysia, 2013. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. P.M. Kundu, F. I. Mathivha and T. R. Nkuna. “The use of GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques to Evaluate the Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Change on the Hydrology of Luvuvhu River Catchment in Limpopo Province”, Report to the Water Research Commission by Department of Hydrology and Water Resources University of Venda, 2015 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. J. Li, B. E. Carlson, and A. A. Lacis. “A Study on the Temporal and Spatial Variability of Absorbing Aerosols using Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer and Ozone Monitoring Instrument Aerosol Data Index”, Journal of Geophysical Research. Vol. 114, Issue D09213, 2009. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. R. Mahmood, R. A. Pielke, K. G. Hubbard, D. Niyogi, G. Bonan, P. Lawrence, R. McNider, C. McAlpine, A. Ette, S. Gameda, B. Qian, A. Carleton, A. Beltran-Przekurat, T. Chase, A. I. Quintanar, J.O. Adegoke, S. Vezhapparambu, G. Conner, S. Asefi, J. Syktus. “Impacts of land use/land cover change on climate and future research priorities”. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol 91(1), pp. 37-46, 2010. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. D. Mao and K. Cherkauer. “Impacts of Land-Use Change on Hydrologic Responses in the Great Lakes Region”, Journal of Hydrology. Vol. (374), pp 71-82, 2009 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. H. Memarian, S. K. Balasundram, K. C. Abbaspour, J. B. Talib, C. T. Boon-Sung and M. Sood. “SWAT-based hydrological modeling of tropical land-use scenarios”, Hydrological Sciences Journal, vol. 59 (10), pp. 1808-1829, 2014. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. S. I. Musa, and M. Hashim. “Urban growth assessment and its impact on deforestation in Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria using remote sensing and GIS techniques”, vol. 12, no. 6, pp.1907– 1914, 2017. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. K. Pokhrel. “Impact of land use change on flow and sediment yields in the Khokena outlet of Bagmati River, Kathmado, Nepal”. Hydrology vol 5(2), 2018. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. K. Rahman, K. S. Balkhair, M. Almazroui and A. Masood. “Sub-catchments flow losses computation using Muskingum–Cunge routing method and HEC-HMS GIS based techniques: case study of Wadi Al-Lith, Saudi Arabia”, Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, vol 3, pp. 1-9. 2017. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. R. A. A. Raja, V. Anand, A. S. Kumar, S. Maithani and V. A. Kumar. “Wavelet Based Post Classification Change Detection Technique for Urban Growth Monitoring”, Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 41(1), pp. 35–43, 2013. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. A. Sobowale, J. Adewumi, C. Okuofu and J. Otun. “Water resources potentials of Hadejia River sub-catchment of Komadugu Yobe River Basin in Nigeria”, Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, vol. 12 (2), pp. 1–6, 2010. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. B. G. Tassew, M. A. Belete and K., Miegel. “Application of HEC-HMS Model for Flow Simulation in the Lake Tana Basin: The Case of Gilgel Abay Catchment, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia”, Hydrology, vol. 6(1), pp 21, 2019. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. L. Zhang, Z. Nan, Y. Xu and S. Li. “Hydrological Impacts of Land Use Change and Climate Variability in the Headwater Region of the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China”. PLoS ONE vol. 11(6), 2016. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Ecological Survey of Aquatic Macrophytes in Tatabu Reservoir, Niger State, Nigeria
• Adaptation Phenomena of Visually Impaired Disabilities in Social Relations at the Social Rehabilitation Unit in Malang, Indonesia
• Modeling and Simulation of Solar Irradiance Conversion Using the Pyranometer App
• Development of an Expert System for Outpatients
• Strength Analysis of Heat Treated Clay and Rice Husk Mixture