Soil Erosion Risk Assessment Using Rusle Model

Accelerated soil erosion is the major problem resulting in both on site and off site effects. This study was aimed to estimate and quantify soil loss of Yemeles watershed by GIS based RUSLE model and prioritize sub watershed for soil conservation planning. The rate of soil loss from the study watershed was estimated using GIS based RUSLE model by using spatial information climate data, soil map, digital elevation model (DEM), land use land cover and land management practices as an input to RUSLE model. The result of this study indicated that the mean annual soil loss as 10.86 t ha-1yr-1. From the total area of the watershed (1242.88 ha), 137098 tons of soil is eroded annually. The result of this model were evaluated for its performance and performed well with the value of measured sheet erosion and resulted with the value of R2=0.8244. Based on mean annual soil loss 43.5% of the watershed area was covred by slightly soil loss class (0-5 t ha-1yr-1) and about 39% of the watershed had soil loss greater than tolerance level which is high ,severe and very severe soil loss class 11-50 t ha-1yr-1,50-100 t ha-1yr-1and 100 t ha-1yr-1 respectively.