DEPARTMENT OF

AGRICULTURAL AND
BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING
Visca, Baybay City, Leyte, PHILIPPINES
Telephone: (053) 525-0140 local 1015
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

ABEn 176 – LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION ENGINEERING

Name: Andrea Nicole G. Espino Date Performed: 3/16/24

Course and Year: BSABE – 4 Date Submitted.: 3/20/24
Lab Schedule: Wednesday (1PM-4PM)

Laboratory Exercise No. 2

Watershed Delineation Using GIS
I. Learning Outcomes
At the end of this laboratory activity, the students should be able to:

1. Understand the concept of watersheds and its significance in hydrological

analysis.
2. Utilize GIS software tools to delineate watersheds from digital elevation
models (DEMs).
3. Analyze the characteristics of watersheds, such as area, perimeter, and
drainage.

II. INTRODUCTION

Watershed delineation or delineating watershed boundaries is drawing lines on

a map to identify the boundaries of a watershed. It is typically drawn on topographic
maps using information from contour lines. Also, contour lines are lines of equal
elevation, therefore, any point along a given contour line is the same elevation (West
Virginia Conservation Agency, n.d). Correlating watersheds with hydrology,
watersheds is also known as a catchment which is a topographic are drained by a
stream, it is where water is also stored and moves downstream. Expounding the
movement through watersheds – in every watershed, minor ones converge to create
larger ones, and these larger streams merge to form rivers. These rivers eventually
flow into the ocean, where the water may remain or undergo evaporation to generate
precipitation (Smith, 2005).

There are various factors that influence water delineation. Some factors
considered in the study of (Yan, 2020) aridity, slope, distance to coast, and
topographic size. Additionally in the study of (Laura, 2019) it was stated that the
choice of digital elevation model (DEM) dataset and the posting resolution of the DEM
is also one of the factors.

III. MATERIALS
1. Computer desktop or laptop with installed QGIS

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 2. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data of the study area 3. Shapefile of the
study area boundary; and 4. Pen and paper for notetaking.

IV. METHODS
1. Extract (Digital Elevation Model) DEM data from Earth Data NASA.
2. Open the downloaded DEM to QGIS app.

Click Layer Menu on the menu bar. Go to Add Layer and choose Add Raster
Layer. On the

Data Source Manager | Raster, click on the three dots on the right most
corner of the source dataset(s). Select the downloaded DEM file and click
Add. The DEM file will be added as a new raster layer in the GIS.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
3. If the downloaded DEM is not in projected coordinate system, re-projection is
needed to have appropriate coordinate system. Right click on the DEM File
layer at the Layer Panel and choose Properties. At the Source, check on the
Assigned Coordinate Reference System (CRS). If not projected, choose
EPSG:32651. Click Apply and OK.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
4. Right click at the Menu Bar and activate Processing Toolbox Panel. The
Processing Toolbox Panel will appear at the right part of the interface. It
contains the System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) which will
be used for the analysis of the watershed area.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
5. Using the reprojected DEM, depressions are filled using Fill sinks (Wang and
Liu) tool. Go to System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA). Choose
Terrain Analysis – Preprocessing and click on Fill Sinks (Wang and Liu) tool. At
the interface, uncheck flow directions and watershed basins. Save to file the
Filled DEM and allow the algorithm to run.
The Filled DEM will be generated as a new raster layer.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 6. Next step is to generate the Strahler Order and Channels to outline the stream
network of the study area. Go to Terrain Analysis – Channels and choose
Channel Network and
Drainage Basins. At the interface, choose the Filled DEM layer as the
elevation. Let Threshold remain as default. Uncheck other analyses except
Strahler Order and Channels.

Allow algorithm to run. The Strahler Order will generate as a new raster layer, while
the Channel will generate as a new vector layer.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
7. Generate the watershed using the Upslope Area Tool. Copy the coordinate of
the desired outlet point of the watershed. At SAGA, go to Terrain Analysis –
Hydrology and choose Upslope Area. At the Upslope Area interface, paste the
copied or target X and Y coordinates. Choose the Filled DEM as the elevation
and [0] Deterministic 8 as the method. Set convergence as Default. Allow the
Algorithm to run. The Upslope Area will be generated as a new raster file.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
8. Polygonize the raster file. Go to the Raster Menu at the menu bar, choose
conversion and click on the Polygonize (raster to vector) … Select the Upslope
Area as the input layer. Set others as default and save the vectorized file. Click
run. The vector file of the Upslope Area will be generated.

9. Determine the area of the watershed. At the layer panel, right click on the
vectorized Upslope Area layer and open Attribute Table. Activate the toogle
Editing and then Open Field Calculator. At the Field Calculator, make Area(has)
as the Output Field Name. Search and choose $area / 10000 and click Okay.
The area of the watershed in hectares will be added into the attribute table.
Save edits and deactivate the toogle editing.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
 Export the delineated watershed and summarize findings, including watershed
characteristics and any observed patterns.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
V. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.
VI. CONCLUSION
This laboratory activity has helped students find appreciation in the application
of technology and the convenience it gives in areas that will require the use of QGIS
aside from watershed delineation alone. Comparing this technological application to
the traditional water delineation method, it is indeed less time consuming, and it is a
necessary skill needed to be acquired as an aspiring Agricultural and Biosystems
Engineering. Since this activity has helped start honing this skill area, with
enhancement, it will be a relevant criterion for future purposes.

VII. REFERENCES
• QGIS 3.36 User Guide
• http://www.qgistutorials.com
Laura, K. J. (2019). Uncertainty in Catchment Delineations as a Result of
Digital Elevation Model Choice. Hydrology.
Smith, S. S. (2005). Watersheds.
West Virginia Conservation Agency. (n.d). Watershed Delineation. 2-3.
Yan, L. T. (2020). What is the hydrologically effective area of a catchment.
Environmental Research Letters, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ABA7E5.

Vision: A globally competitive university for science, technology, and environmental conservation.
Mission: Development of a highly competitive human resource, cutting-edge scientific knowledge
and innovative technologies for sustainable communities and environment.