PRIORITIZING WATERSHEDS: A REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

APPROACH

For an agrarian economy, India, the type and amount of soil is

important as it governs agricultural production. However, excessive
soil erosion has contributed to the impoverishment of land in India.
Estimated average annual rates of soil loss (16.75 tones /hectare) are
far above the permissible soil erosion rates (7.5 to 12.5 tones/ hectare/
year) for different regions of the country (Kaur et.al, 2003). Deposition
of eroded soil reduces the carrying capacity of reservoirs and
consequently increases the occurrence of floods. Millions of dollars are
lost annually due to loss of essential plant nutrients (560 million
dollars) and annual food production (40 million tones); (Kaur et.al,
2003). Thus, the need to identify ‘contributing areas’ and promote the
appropriate conservation measure arises.

Priority watersheds refer to those hydrological units or sub watersheds

that are contributing the most sediment loads and require preferential
soil and water conservation measures to reduce the load in the
watershed. Treatment measure then need to be shifted on a priority
basis to sediment producing areas rather that the watershed at large.

Remote sensing and GIS provides an effective tool for integrating

spatial information. Water and soil losses are often a function of
topography, physiography, climatic and management conditions.
Causative factors like slope, aspect, land use/land cover, soil type and
depth, rainfall, runoff etc. can be integrated in the spatial domain to
identify affected areas.

Within a larger watershed, there are hydrological units (sub-

watersheds) that more often than not contribute, more to runoffs and
consequent sediment losses than others. Tools of remote sensing and
GIS can be used to identify such areas.

Sustainable land use plans can be prepared on the basis of the results
of spatio-temporal analysis of soil erosion using Soil Loss Equations
(average annual soil loss) in GIS. Concepts of ‘Soil Loss Tolerance’ and
‘Critical Soil Loss Values’ can be incorporated to identify priority areas
while serving as a guide to conservation measure recommendations
(Pahari et.al., 1996). An assessment of the impacts of intervention
approaches as part of Integrated Watershed Management Programes
can also be carried out using tools of remote sensing and GIS. Results
obtained could be used as justification of land resources management
techniques adopted.
Components affecting water and soil losses are often difficult to
quantify over large watersheds. GIS supported hydrological models like
SWAT (Soil and Water assessment) can be used to quantify critical
elements like Water Availability (mm/yr) and Sediment Yield (t/ha)
which can then be utilized in the prioritization of watersheds.

Thus, tools of remote sensing and GIS, help in incorporating scientific

knowledge and information about spatial phenomena into the decision-
making process.
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