ABSTRACT
The Canete River watershed located in the central Peruvian Andes, is undergoing hydrological changes due to global rising temperatures, landuse changes and increased water supply demand. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was developed by the US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service to model the impact of land use and management on water quality and quantity. SWAT modeling requires spatially explicit land cover, soil, weather and elevation data. For the Canete watershed, this information was compiled from various sources. The application of SWAT to model watersheds in the Andes has been used primarily to provide information on water provisioning and the impact of climate change, glacier melt and land-use change. SWAT modeling can be used to identify the areas that contribute the most to waterflow. The satisfactory calibration and validation of the SWAT model allows us to explore the potential sediment contribution of the landscape to water quality in the Canete River.
