Watershed Management

INTRODUCTION
Water is an essential to our existence or the breathing air. We can survive without food for several weeks,
but without water we would die in a few days. Watershed is a geohydrological unit or piece of land that
drain at a common point. It is defined as the “any spatial area from which rain or irrigation water is
collected and drained through a common point”. It is a geographic region which hydrological conditions
are such that water becomes concentrated within a particular location, eg: a river or reservoir, by which
the watershed is drained.
A watershed is simply the geographic area through which water flows across the land and drains into a
common body of water, whether a stream, river, lake, or ocean. The watershed boundary will more or less
follow the highest ridgeline around the stream channels and meet at the bottom or lowest point of the land
where water flows out of the watershed, the mouth of the waterway.
WATERSHED
 It is a natural hydrological unit.
 Area that defined by the lower elevation .so it carry water after rain or floods.
 Water channeled in soil making its way to larger river.
 Topographically delineated area drained by a stream system, from which runoff resulting from
precipitation flow past from a point into single stream.
 Development is not confined just to agriculture lands but covers entire catchment's area.
 Watershed approach is holistic, linking upstream and downstream areas.
 Practical approach in planning, directed at preservation, conservation, development, management
and exploitation of natural resources for the benefit of people.
Types of Watershed
Watersheds is classified depending upon the size, drainage, shape and land use pattern.
 Macro watershed (> 50,000 Hect)
 Sub-watershed (10,000 to 50,000 Hect)
 Milli-watershed (1000 to10000 Hect)
 Micro watershed (100 to 1000 Hect)
 Mini watershed (1-100 Hect)

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 Watershed Management
Management of the environment has been primarily focused on specific issues such as air, land, and water.
Most efforts have resulted in decreasing pollutant emissions to air and water, improved landfills,
remediation of waste sites and contaminated groundwater, protection of rare and endangered species,
design of best management practices to control water and contaminant runoff, and much more.
 Watershed management is a form meant to capture the sum of the action taken to preserve and
maintain watersheds.
 The watersheds the land area draining to a point on a stream or river, is nature’s production unit
for water supplies. It is the process of guiding and coordinating use of land and water resources in
a watershed.
 The management of watershed includes all measurements that can be taken to protect, manage,
and conserve water and related land resources.
 This Is The Process Of Guiding & Organizing, Land And Other Resource Usage In A
Watershed Ensuring The Sustenance Of The Environment (Mainly The Soil And Water
Resources) I.E., Need To Recognize The Interrelationships Between, Land Use, Soil-Water,
And Slope Of Terrain.
 Unifying Focus In Watershed Management Is In How Various Human Activities Affect The
Relationship Between Water And Other Natural Resources.
 Provides A Basis For Actions Concerning The Development And Conservation.
Principles of Watershed Management
 Utilizing the land based on its capability.
 Protecting fertile top layer soil.
 Minimizing setting up of tanks, reservoir and lower fertile land.
 Protecting vegetative cover throughout the year.
 In situ conservation of rainwater.
 Safe diversion of gullies and construction of check dams for increasing ground water recharge.
 Water harvesting for supplemental irrigation.

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Objectives of Watershed Management
The watershed aims, ultimately at improving standard of living of common people in the basin by
increasing their earning capacity, by offering facilities such as electricity, drinking water, irrigation water,
and freedom from fears, floods etc.
The different objectives of watershed management are:

 To control damaging runoff and degradation and thereby conservation of soil and water.
 To manage and utilize the runoff water for useful purpose.
 To protect, conserve and improve the land of watershed for more efficient and sustained
production.
 To protect and enhance the water resource originating in the watershed.
 To check soil erosion and to reduce the effect of sediment yield on the watershed.
 Recognition of watershed
 Adequate water supply for domestic, agricultural and industrial needs.
 Abatement of organic, inorganic and soil pollution.
 To protect and enhance the water resource originating in the watershed.
 To increase infiltration of rainwater.
 To rehabilitate the deteriorating lands.
 To moderate the floods peaks at downstream areas.
 To increase infiltration of rainwater.
 To improve and increase the production of timbers, fodder and wild life resource.
 To enhance the ground water recharge, wherever applicable.

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Use of Remote sensing And GIS in Watershed Management
Remote sensing finds its way to use in faster assessment of natural resources such as soil, geology,
drainage etc. Aerial photographs and satellites images convey important information on land use,
vegetation, slope ingredient, erosion etc. It also find its use in assessment of economic activities through
land use and infrastructure of land use.
GIS is an important tool for tracking spatial data. GIS give clear perspective for analysis various level
to different patterns of watershed.
 Useful for generating environmental indicators that can be integrated with collateral data and
social indicators.
 Synoptic view, Multi-resolution, multi-spectral, repetitive offers appropriate method for quick,
unbiased mapping and monitoring of natural resources both in space and time domain.
 Timely and accurate information on spatial distribution – land use, soil, vegetation density,
forest, geology, water resources etc.
 RS data in conjunction with collateral data helps in delineation of ridge line, characterization,
prioritization, erosion prone areas, etc.
Watershed Management Concerns
 Preventing Deterioration Of Existing Relationships Between The Use Of Natural Resources
Within A Watershed
 Restoring Sustainable Relationships Which Had Been Destroyed Due To Actions In The
Past There By Ensure The Best Use Of Resources In A Watershed
Watershed Management Strategies
 Prevention Strategies - Those Aimed At Preserving Suitable Existing Land Use Practices
 Restorative Strategies - Those Targeting To Overcome Identified Problems Or To Restore
Conditions To A Desirable Level Both Environmentally And Politically

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 Watershed Development Approach
 Integrated and multi-disciplinary approach.
 To suggest possible exploitation of resources within the limits of tolerance.
 Approach is Preventive, Progressive, Corrective and Curative.
Objectives of Watershed Development Approach
 Conservation of Soil and Water
 Improved ability of land to hold water
 Maintaining adequate vegetative cover for controlling soil erosion
 Rain water harvesting and ground water recharging.
Benefits of Watershed Development Approach
Watersheds are important because the surface water features and stormwater runoff within a watershed
ultimately drain to other bodies of water. It is essential to consider these downstream impacts when
developing and implementing water quality protection and restoration actions. Everything upstream ends
up downstream. We need to remember that we all live downstream and that our everyday activities can
affect downstream water.
 Promotes economic and social development of community
 Employment generation and other income generation
 Ecological balance
Benefits derived from Watershed
 The crop yield has increased by in dry land farming
 The soil loss due to erosion was brought down
 Large extents of barren hill slopes were covered by vegetation.
 Large tracts of marginal lands brought under dry land Horticulture
 Development of Agro-Horti and Agro-Forestry systems.
 Water resources were harvested through farm ponds, gully embankments
 Regeneration of grass lands for more fodder and grass.
 The income of farmers increased considerably
 Watershed is important sources of drinking water.

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 Characteristics of Watersheds
 All characteristics affect the disposal of water.
 Size: It Helps In Computing Parameters Like Precipitation Received, Retained, Drained
Off.
 Shape: Different Shapes Based On Morphological Parameters Like Geology and Structure,
E.G. Pear, Elongated Etc.
 Physiography: Lands Altitude and Physical Disposition.
 Slope: It Controls The Rainfall Distribution And Movement:
 Climate: It Decides The Quantitative Approach.
 Drainage: It Determines the Flow Characteristics and So The Erosion Behavior.
 Vegetation: Information Of Species Gives A Sure Ground For Selection Plants And Crops.
 Geology And Soils: Their Nature Determines Size, Shape, Physiographic, Drainage And
Groundwater Conditions. Soils, Derivative Of Rocks Are The Basic To Greenery
 Hydrology: Basic to Final Goal of Growing Greenery in A Watershed. It Helps In
Quantification Of Water Available.
 Hydrogeology: Availability of Groundwater.
 Socioeconomics: Statistics On People And Their Health, Hygiene, Wants And Wishes Are
Important In Managing Water.
Factors affecting watershed management
 Watershed characters
 Size and shape
 Topography
 Soils iv) Relief
 Climatic characteristic
 Precipitation
 Amount and intensity of rainfall
 Watershed operation
 Land use pattern
 Vegetative cover
 Density

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 CONCLUSION
 The interrelated nature of land and water resources calls for a holistic approach towards
watershed management.
 Because of the ability to obtain synoptic view and repetitive coverage, remote sensing lends
itself as a powerful input media.
 Unbiased reproduction of the natural features in the form of photograph /imagery and thereby
economizing the multi-disciplinary approach for planning of natural resources in a watershed for
integrated development.
 Technologies like GIS lend a helping hand in organization of these huge databases in a
structured format.
 GIS integrate multi-thematic information, analyses the information in an objective manner.
 GIS help arrive at timely and appropriate decisions related to resource management.
 Watershed is an essential in day to day life, a vast range of activities of everyday life depend
upon adequate supplies of water for example agriculture and industry, power production, inland
transportation, sanitation and public health services, and so on.
 Therefore to provide all these activities construction of watershed and manage is essential.
Watershed is a geohydrological unit of land that drain at a common point.
 The management of watershed provides a means to achieve sustainable land and water
management, poor watershed management is a major cause of land and water degradation rural
poverty in the world.