Long-term variability of runoff from a small agricultural catchment of the North Masovian Lowland

Abstract

Changes of land use, population and climate cause spatial and temporal changes in renewable water resources. For better understanding of the changes and effective management of water resources, hydrological investigations in river catchments are carried out around the world. A special investigation involves a study of hydrological processes in small site-specific catchments. The aim of the study is to analyse three characteristic river flows of a small lowland river on the basis of field surveys over two multiannual periods and to evaluate the applicability of indirect methods for determining characteristic flows in the catchment. Hydrological studies in the small agricultural catchment of the Mławka River, located in the Mławka Hills mesoregion, a part of the North Mazovian Lowland macro-region, have continued since 1966. The recorded data were used to determine daily flows and selected characteristic flows for multiannual periods of 1966–1990 and 1991–2020. To determine characteristic flows with indirect methods, three regional formulae and isorea methods were used. The study showed a decrease in renewable water resources over the period. In the multiannual periods, the average flow at the gauge station of Mławka River decreased by 15.6%. The outflow coefficient decreased from 0.303 to 0.265. The minimum annual flows also decreased by 29.1% and annual maximum flows showed an average increase by 19.7%. The use of indirect methods to determine the mean flow yielded results that converged with those from the second multiannual period.

Keywords

• agricultural watershed
• climate change
• flow decrease
• hydrological characteristics
• land use change
• renewable water resources