ABSTRACT

Soil resources is vital to the survival of the human race. The preservation of this resources is critically important to maintaining agricultural productivity and environmental quality. The gully erosion development at Mgbom Community Primary School, Afikpo North Local Government Area, Ebonyi State was as a result of erodible nature of the soil and the erosivity of the rainfall. The areas prone to erosion and the extent of damage caused by gully erosion at the site were identified and appropriate basic control measures also given. The field topographical survey were carried out according to standard surveying procedures with a slope of 6% and other useful parameter used in the design. The physical and hydraulic properties of the soil at the area were analyzed. These include moisture content, porosity, hydraulic conductivity and soil textural determination etc. The soil was classified as loamy sand and the hydraulic conductivity ranged from 4.12 x i0 to 5.85 x 10 5m/s. The rainfall duration frequency curve of the zone was employed in determination of the rainfall intensity (81 mm/br) of the area under study from which the peak discharge (QP) was estimated as 3.71m3/s. Bermuda grass was selected based on the peculiarity of the erosion site with roughness coefficient (n) of 0.11. Runoff coefficient of 0.55 was selected, a trapezoidal channel of width 0.47m and depth of flow im were designed to carry water to the nearest natural outlet. Using this type of channel the runoff will be safely discharged and the gully site totally reclaimed provided gully area are properly regressed and destruction of vegetation cover is been discouraged or stopped.