| Summary: | Sediment yield estimation in rivers at the regional or local scale is very important
especially in term of managing the water resources in the catchment area. The sediment yield usually
calculated either from direct measurement of sediment concentration in rivers or from sediment
transport equation at a particular outlet point in the catchment. A total of 19 rivers were selected as
sampling sites located at the Barat Daya District of Penang. The Universal Soil Loss Equation
(USLE) was used to estimate the sediment yield in the study area by integrating with the Geographic
Information System (GIS) to generate maps of the USLE factors, which are rainfall erosivity (R), soil
erodibility (K), slope length and steepness (LS), crop management (C), and conservation practice (P)
factors. A sediment rating curves of the study area was developed to verify the accuracy as well as
comparison to the sediment yield estimated by USLE. The results show good correlation between the
sediment yield estimated by USLE and observed data (r2 is 0.62). The sediment yield estimated in the
year 1974 was 1300 ton/km2/year, 1984 was 1921 ton/km2/year, 2004 was 1919 ton/km2/year and
2012 was 2336 ton/km2/year. Based on the land use analysis, agricultural activity was dominant in the
Barat Daya area and contributes much of the sediment into the river system.
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