Runoff ratio
The rate of precipitation that
emerged as runoff from a watershed
in each year, namely the annual
runoff ratio, was quantified to extract
the impact of land use change in the five sub-watersheds (Figure 7). Two types of rainfall data
are used for each watershed, i.e., data obtained at a single gauging station and areal rainfall
estimated from APHRO_EA_V0804 (shown by APHRODITE in Figures 6 and 7). The runoff
ratio of Nam Suong watershed, when areal rainfall was applied, shows a strong increasing trend
over the studied period. Nam Khan and Nam Ou show slight to moderate increasing trends of
annual runoff ratio, but no distinct trend was observed for Nam Ngum watershed. Extremely
large runoff ratio is calculated for Nam Lik watershed when areal rainfall is applied. This is
probably due to the underestimation of areal rainfall caused by limited data availability.
Although it is uncertain if a single gauging station represents the areal rainfall magnitude, using
rainfall data observed at Vangvieng gives reasonable values of runoff ratio probably due to that
Nam Lik watershed is relatively small and most part of the watershed lies under the topographic
condition similar to Vangvieng. Mean annual runoff ratios in two separated periods are
summarized in Figure 8. It must be noted that the different averaging period is used in each
watershed depending on the data availability of streamflow, and the mean runoff ratios for Nam
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Monthly rainfall (mm)
Ban Hin Heup
Luang Prabang
Phongsaly
Vangvien
Ban Naluang
Sengkhalok
Muong Ngoy
Oudomxay
Xiengkhouang
Figure 5. Monthly rainfall for the period 1999 – 2005.
0
100
200
300
400
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
R (1987-1992)
R (1994-1996)
R (1997-2002)
Q (1987-1992)
Q (1994-1996)
Q (1997-2002)
Basin: Nam Suong
Rainfall: APHRODITE
Streamflow: Ban
Rainfall and streamflow (mm)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
R (1987-1992)
R (1993-1996)
R (1997-2002)
Q (1987-1992)
Q (1993-1996)
Q (1997-2002)
Rainfall and streamflow (mm)
Basin: Nam Ngum
Rainfall: APHRODITE
Streamflow: Ban Naluang
Figure 6. Monthly rainfall and discharge for different
periods (up: Nam Suong, bottom: Nam Ngum).
Impact of land use change in the Mekong River basin
6
Lik are calculated using point rainfall at
Vangvieng. Figure 8 clearly shows that the
runoff ratio increased in watersheds where a
significant land use change was detected
(Figure 4).