An approach to follow the variation of the base flow of small watersheds

The term `base flow' means the contribution of the aquifer flow which sustains the river flow during droughts and permits pumping activities the year round. This paper proposes a way to obtain rather rapidly a good approximation of the behaviour of the base flow of a watershed only after a few months of measurements. After some considerations about data collecting, the hydrological assumptions which have lead to a simple base flow model are explained. The mathematical procedure of identification of the parameters of the model is then described and applied to three subbasins of the Dyle basin.