Estimation of Catchment Parameters of Snyder's Synthetic Method for Water Resources Planning and Flood Management in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Snyder's synthetic unit hydrograph method is widely recognized for synthesizing unit hydrographs. This paper illustrates a study demonstrating how to estimate catchment parameters using Snyder's synthetic method for hydro-meteorological stations maintained by the Irrigation Department and its application to Sri Lanka. Updated Snyder's Unit Hydrograph parameters, including coefficient accounting for flood wave and storage condition (Cp) and coefficient representing variations of catchment slop and storage (Ct) for 15 river gauge stations spread across the island, have been presented in this paper. The Cp values vary from 0.22 to 0.7, and the Ct values vary from 0.48 to 5.76. Updating the Snyder parameters is a long-term requirement, and these values can be used to update the previous values estimated in 1980.