Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

15Effects of Water Harvesting Techniques on Sedimentation

Siavash Fasihi¹ and Saeid Eslamian²

¹Abvarzan Consulting Engineers, Tehran, Iran

²Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

15.1 Introduction

Water harvesting is defined as the collection of water for its productive use (Critchley et al. 1991). The durability and sustainability of water resources in a catchment, and functionality of storage, however, can be threatened by siltation due to runoff and soil erosion processes, which have on-site and off-site effects (Frankl et al. 2016; Haregeweyn et al. 2008a, 2008b).

For many years, to collect water from rains in certain regions of the world, several different water harvesting techniques (WHTs) were introduced and implemented, such as stone bunds, infiltration or deep trenches, check dams, and percolation ponds (Gebrernichael et al. 2005; Nyssen et al. 2004; Vancampenhout et al. 2006; Walraevens et al. 2015). As these techniques are widely applied in a watershed scale, they can either directly or indirectly affect various aspects of environmental and managerial policies regarding agroeconomy through erosivity control. (Okhravi et al. 2014).

One major influence of WHTs is reducing sedimentation which consequently diminishes the negative impacts on food production, drinking water quality, ecosystem services, mud control, eutrophication, biodiversity, and carbon stock shrinkage (Boardman and Poesen 2007).

Increasing ...