Abstract

MARTIN CLEMENTE, Carlos Rodrigo et al. Comparison of methods to estimate water availability on forest watersheds. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2015, vol.33, n.1, pp.17-26. ISSN 2395-8030.

The Calles watershed is located in Sierra Fría, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Although it is the main water resource of the interstate aquifer "Ojocaliente-Aguascalientes-Encarnación", there are no studies on the water dynamics of this ecosystem. This work compares the water availability of the Calles watershed estimated through the Thornthwaite & Mather water balance model (W.B.), latitude adjusted and weighted by Thiessen polygons, associated to the potential evapotranspiration formulas of Thornthwaite, Blaney-Criddle and Hargreaves-Samani. The comparison was done through the Tukey HSD (Honest Significant Difference) test, with alpha = 0.05. The watershed's water availability was calculated through the Hydrometric records direct method (HRDM) proposed by the NOM-011-CNA-2000 as a reference. Water availability was estimated at 28.52 Mm3 (W.B. + Thornthwaite), 51.30 Mm3 (W.B. + Hargreaves-Samani), 133.92 Mm3 (W.-B. + Blaney-Criddle) and 50.66 Mm3 (HRDM). The Tukey HSD test results shows that there was no significant difference between the values obtained through the HRDM and the W.B. + Hargreaves-Samani (P = 0.999031), contrasting with the significant differences found between the other pairs of methods (P = 0.000164, P = 0.000335). Therefore, the W.B. + Hargreaves-Samani produced the best watershed water availability value. It can thus be used to obtain basic information to establish primary management actions in places where direct measurements cannot be obtained.

Keywords : Blaney-Criddle; Hargreaves-Samani; runoff; Thornthwaite and Mather.

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