Land and water resource management in Gagas River Valley Watershed using remote sensing and GIS

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Date
2016-09
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
About 30 % of the total geographical area of India is drought prone, primarily, due to erratic patter of rainfall distribution. Out of about 142 M ha total cultivable land, about 72% is categorized as rain-fed or drought prone. There is a wide scope to harvest the available rain water of the zone 1000-2500 mm. Uttarakhand’s mid and high hills come under this category. Single most important key factor for sustaining mountainous agro-ecosystems is water. Mountains are called life giver since they are major sources of all the natural resources including forest, water, land, animal and mineral to not only to the inhabitants of the region but also to those downstream. Uttarakhand’s 70% population of mountainous regions, depends mostly on agriculture for their livelihood, but due to various constraints such as climatic, geographical and socio-economic etc. have led to a poor agricultural productivity in the region. Land and Water Resource management refers to the judicious use of natural resources such as soil, water, plant and animals, resulting in better quality of life for both present and future generations. With this approach in view, the present study of Gagas river valley watershed of Almora district of Uttarakhand state in India, was undertaken in with the objectives to study soil nutrients status, water resources, topography, land use pattern, detailed morphometric analysis for eleven sub-watersheds and their prioritization on basis of morphometric analysis. Most of the soils in the study area were coarse textured varying from sandy loam to clay and moderate to slight acidic in reaction. The surface soil under cultivated lands were more acidic in reaction than sub-surface soils. Soil of the study area was deficient in zinc (Zn), whereas, Manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) content were in medium range. Iron (Fe) content of soil was very high in the soil of study area. Water quality was good for irrigation and domestic purposes in the study area. ArcGlS software was used to prepare different thematic maps of the study area by using toposheets and satellite image. The very steep slopes and escarpments were present in majority of study area and forests were on these higher slopes. North l, North-East and East aspects had thicker vegetation in the form of forest whereas agricultural activities were prominent in East, South-East, South and West aspects. The morphometric parameters’ quantitative analysis is of immense importance in watershed prioritization for the purpose of soil and water conservation programmes and natural resources management. The soil conservation measures can first be applied to sub-watershed SWS-III, V,VI and X and then to the other sub-watersheds depending upon their priority. The sub-watershed SWS-II received last priority rank for management. From the results it was concluded that morphometric and land use/land cover analysis could be an effective methodology for identifying the critical areas within the watershed for initiating soil and water conservation programme having scientific flavor, in ungauged watersheds.
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Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
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