CASE STUDY OF DRAINAGE PROBLEM FOR A PLANTATION AREA USING GIS TECHNIQUES

Abstract

Drainage is a critical element of sustained, efficient and productive agriculture. It is established in the recent years that waterlogging problems closely influences the productivity. In high valued cash crops like Tea, the solution for water logging problem assumes special significance. Standard literature already contains information for general crops but for tea crop, it is still remaining to be addressed properly. In this dissertation, a case study has been made to investigate the waterlogging problem of tea garden. The available physical data was collected to understand the magnitude of the problem. Geographical Information Systems link land cover data to topographic data and to other information concerning processes and properties related to geographic location. When applied to hydrologic systems, non-topographic information can include description of soils, land use, ground cover, ground water conditions, as well as man made systems and their characteristics on or below the land surface. Description of topography is called terrain modelling, and because of the tendency of surface water to flow down hill, the hydrologic importance of terrain modelling is clear. While maps have been the most common historical forms of representing topography, the advent of digital maps in GIS provides an alternate method of storing and retrieving this information. The GIS technology provides suitable alternatives for efficient management of large and complex database. Spatial statistics and grid design capabilities of GIS can improve the modeling effort and aid in reliability assessment. The GIS data base for water shed modeling include details of land use, water use, soils, hydrological characteristics, drainage network and digital elevation model. These type of data related to catchment characteristics can be accurately and more easily handled in GIS. Hence an attempt has been made to perceive the complexities involved in water logging areas in GIS environment and consequently design of drains has been carried out. Key words: GIS, water logging, drainage