Category: Monitoring Wetlands and Mitigating Floods
Project Team: Peru Disasters
Team Location: Wise County Clerk of Court’s Office – Wise, Virginia
The image above represents the different layers of data used to create the SWAT Model. Image Credit: Peru Disasters Team
Authors:
Sarah Medley
Kieran Blakemore
Grant Bloomer
Scott Arnette
Jordan Bates
Michael Mullins
Azeb Shewago
Mentors/Advisors:
Dr. Kenton Ross (NASA DEVELOP National Program)
Dr. DeWayne Cecil (Global Science and Technology Inc.)
Dr. Ryan Stewart (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
Past/Other Contributors:
Steve Padgett-Vasquez
Catherine Steentofte
Abigail Holbrook
Manzi Roger Dusabimana
Rohini Swaminathan
Abstract:
In rural regions of Peru, access to adequate water and sanitation systems is limited, and large percentages of the population remain below the poverty line. In addition, major flooding in 2008, 2013, and 2014 devastated the region. In a partnership with Water For People, a nonprofit organization, this project aimed to create datasets and tools necessary for water resource management projects in the Gran Chimú province and Asunción district of Peru. An additional partnership with the Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civil del Peru (INDECI) will aim to support flood mitigation. NASA Earth observations were used in this project to provide alternative datasets for Water For People’s projects in Peru. Earth observations systems such as Landsat 8’s Operational Land Imager (OLI) data, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), and land use data from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) also were used. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to build a model that will enable the end-user to study the hydrological processes and to develop a water resources inventory for the study area. Necessary models and data to estimate the flood risk assessment also were identified. The final maps, models, datasets and tutorials developed in this project will enable Water For People and the Peruvian government to improve water management programs.
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