Study of the effects of check dam construction on the Limau Manih river using GIS

¹ Departement of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Andalas University, West Sumatera, Indonesia.
² Graduate, Departement of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Andalas University, West Sumatera, Indonesia.

^* Corresponding author: darwizaldaoed@gmail.com

Abstract

The problem of flooding or flash floods in watersheds often occurs, both in large rivers and small rivers. The frequency of occurrence varies greatly depending on the local climate. As a result of flooding, it causes more erosion and collapse of riverbanks and washes away all kinds of materials, such as wood, sand, and stone. Sometimes it also submerges rice fields, villages, and houses downstream of the river. Likewise, in the study location of the Limau Manih river, there has been a flood with a large discharge. It was recorded twice a year, namely in July and September 2012. One of the ways to reduce energy, scour, and avalanches on riverbanks is by building a check dam or weir. A check dam is expected to reduce the energy that arises due to differences in elevation or slope of the river channel. But on the other hand, the weir will raise the water level, so that the puddle becomes wider. Therefore, it is necessary to study the impact of weir construction on the extent of inundation. The study was conducted using ArcGIS to map inundation and HEC-RAS to simulate water levels along the river. Simulations were carried out for several return periods of rainfall events. The results of the study show that the planned flood discharge in the river of Limau Manih watershed is quite large. Meanwhile, from the simulation results, the inundation area is not too significant with the increase in the return period and the planned flood discharge. Although the simulation of the weir without widening the upstream part of the weir shows a significant increase in inundation area. This is most likely due to the weir in the upstream area of the river which is rather steep, so that water flows quickly through the overflow of the weir. However, the water level in the weir is higher than without the weir, as a result, water jumps and erosion occur downstream of the weir. For this reason, it is very necessary to monitor the scour behavior in the weir and the sedimentation rate, because this area has the potential to be eroded.