Stream Flow Modeling Using WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) in a Northern Italian Watershed

This paper illustrates the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model’s performance, to predict stream flow in a study conducted in a watershed in the Apennines Mountain Range, northern Italy. Stream flow and weather information were measured on a daily basis for 9 years. Topography, soil and land use data were also collected. A sensitivity analysis showed that the most sensitive parameters were the soil hydraulic conductivity and soil albedo. A comparison between observed and modeled stream fluxes indicated that the model provided reasonable estimates, although the model tended to overestimated the large events and under estimate the low events. Since low flux events were quantitatively dominant, overall the cumulative annual fluxes were underestimated.