Floods are the highest-impact natural disasters. In agricultural basins, anthropogenic features are significant factors in controlling flood and erosion. A hydrological-hydraulic-erosion diagnosis is necessary in order to choose the most relevant action zones and to make recommendations for alternative land uses and cultivation practices in order to control and reduce floods and erosion. This chapter first aims to provide an overview of the flow processes represented in the various possible choices of model structure and refinement. It then focuses on the impact of the spatial distribution and temporal variation of hydrological soil properties in farmed basins, representing their effects on the modelled water and sediment flows. Research challenges and leads are then tackled, trying to identify the conditions in which sufficient adequacy exists between site data and modelling strategies.
Combined method of 3H/3He apparent age and on-site helium analysis to identify groundwater flow processes and transport of perchloroethylene (PCE) in an urban area