PRIORITIZATION OF MICRO-WATERSHEDS USING GEOMATICS TECHNiQUES

Abstract

Soil and water are important natural resources, as both resources are renewable but it became finite, with time due to wastage of water and degradation of soil. There are so many factors which lead to this deterioration of natural resources. Hence, it becomes essential to preserve and conserve these natural resources. And for this there is need of planning and management of these natural resources for their sustainable development which requires strategic planning taking hydrological parameters and sub-watersheds is to be very effective. To preserve natural resources and conserve the soil from further erosion one has to carry out the prioritization of watersheds. Prioritization of watershed can be done by various different methods but in this study three methods are adopted as Morphometric analysis, Land Use and Land Cover analysis and Universal Soil Loss Equation analysis. Result of prioritization by one method may be not reliable but combination of the results by various methods is quite reliable. Hence, integration of the various methods gives better prioritization and results can be helpful in identifying the erosion susceptible regions. In this study, these three methods have been applied in Shipra watershed, falling in Madhya Pradesh State using Geomatics Techniques. In morphometric analysis various morphometric parameters were find out in GIS environment for each sub-watershed and prioritized the sub-watersheds by assigning them rank according to their compounded value. In second method, LULC analysis was carried out and on the basis of four classes again each sub-watershed were prioritize. At last USLE equation was used and annual average soil loss in each sub-watershed was estimated and according to the value of soil loss the sub-watersheds were prioritized. After getting the results from these methods, all were integrated and the result obtained shows that lower portion of the Shipra river basin is most susceptible to soil erosion. Hence, there is need of soil and water conservation structures to prevent the further erosion in lower part of the Shipra river basin. Thus, the proposed study shows that Geomatics Techniques proved very helpful in watershed development and management plan by prioritizing the sub-watersheds.