Potential implications of land use/land cover change and climate variability on ungauged watershed hydrology

In Farta watershed, the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) change and climate variability on hydrological processes was simulated using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). The values of R-2, NSE, RSR and PBIAS were 0.79, 0.67, 0.82 and 4.8% throughout calibration and 0.61, 0.69, 0.69, and 5.2% throughout validation respectively. Climate trend were analysed in the study area by using Mann-Kendall (MK) test. Percentage change of 10.94%, 8.13% and 16.09% for average annual temperature, mean maximum temperature and mean minimum temperature were observed respectively. The four Landsat images (2000, 2005, 2010 and 2017) were classified into five major LULC classes and areal extent of each LULC were 9.2 Km(2) urban, 8.5 Km(2) plantations, 5.7 Km(2) waterbody, -22.3 Km(2) agricultural land and -1.0 Km(2) pastureland. The combined effects of LULC and climate variability in the study area should be taken into consideration for the water resources planning and management.