This document discusses watershed management. It defines a watershed as an area of land that drains to a common point, such as a river or reservoir. Watershed management aims to preserve and maintain watersheds by guiding land and water resource use. It involves practices like check dams, contour bunding, and vegetation cover to increase infiltration, water holding capacity, and prevent soil erosion. Remote sensing and GIS tools are used to assess watershed characteristics and monitor management practices. The document also provides examples of watershed management in Karnataka and Rajasthan, India where it aims to address water scarcity issues.

2. CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• PRINCIPLES OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
• OBJECTIVES OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
• USE OF REMOTESENSING AND GIS IN
WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
• TYPES OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
• FACTORS AFFECTING WATERSHED
MANAGEMENT
• WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
• KARNATAKA WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT
PROJECT
• CONCLUSION

3. INTRODUCTION
Water is an essential to our existance or the
breathing air.We can survive without food for several weeks, but
without water we would die in afew days.
Watershed is a geohydrological unit or piece
of land thatdrain 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 riveror reservoir,
by which the watershed is drained. The watershed is important
sources of drinking water.

4. CONT…
…
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 co-ordinating
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.

5. PRINCIPLES OF WATERSHED
MANAGEMENT
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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 groundwater recharge.
Water harvesting for supplemental irrigation.

6. 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, freedom from fears, floods etc.
•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.

7. USE OF REMOTESENSING AND
GIS
INWATERSHEDMANAGEMENT
Remote sensing finds its way to use in faster
assesment 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 assesment 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.

8. Watershed management
satellite imagery

9. TYPES OF WATERSHED
MANAGEMENT
Grassland development

10. Gully
plugs

11. Tree
plantation

12. Contour
bedding

13. Land
leveling

14. Lift irrigation
scheme

15. Watershed
development

16. M
icrocatchm
entsforslopingland

17. Check
dams

18. Percolation
pond

19. F
A
C
T
O
R
SA
F
F
E
C
T
I
N
GW
A
T
E
R
S
H
E
DM
A
N
A
G
E
M
E
N
T
a)Watershed characters
i)Size and shape
ii)Topography
iii)Soils
iv)Relief
b)Climatic characteristic
i)Precipitation
ii)Amount and intensity of rainfall
c)Watershed operation
d)Land use pattern
i)Vegetative cover
ii)Density
e)Social status of inhability
f)Water resource and their capabilities

20. WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
PRACTICES
1.In terms of purpose
2.To increase infiltration
3.To increase water holding capacity
4.To prevent soil erosion
5.Method and accomplishment

21. In brief various control
measures are:
1)Vegetative measures ( Agronomical measures)
2)Strip cropping
3)Grass land farming
4)Wood lands
5)Engineering measures ( Structural practices)
6)Contour bunding
7)Terracing
8)Construction of earthern embankment
9)Construction of check dams

22. CONT…
…
11)Construction of farm ponds
12)Construction of diversion
13)Gully controlling structure
14)Rock dam
15)Establishment of permanent grass and vegetation
16)Providing vegetative and stone barriers
17)Construction of silt tanks detention
18)Influence of soil conservation measures and
vegetation
19)cover on erosion, Runoff and Nutrient loss
20)Pasture cropping

23. Rainwater harvesting is the main component of watershed
management. Some ofthe watershed management
structures are as follows.
BROAD BEDS AND FURROWS
•FUNCTION
To control erosion and to conserve soil moisture in the soil
during rainy days.
• GENERAL INFORMATION
•The broad bed and furrow system is laid within the field
boundaries. The landlevels taken and it is laid using either
animal drawn or tractor drawn ridges.

24. COST
Approximate cost for laying beds & furrows
is Rs.1800 / ha.
SALIENT FEATURES
•Conserves soil moisture in dry land
•Controls soil erosion.
•Acts as a drainage channel during
heavy rainy days. CONTOUR
BUND
FUNCTION
To intercept the run off flowing down the
slope by an embankment.

25. KARNATAKA WATERSHED
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Karnataka is the driest state in India after Rajasthan. Large state
of the area are prone to recurrent droughts. Around ¾ of all
farmland is rain-fed and there is still little scope to expand
irrigation. As a result, farm productivity is low water is only 3 to
4 months available within a year.
Groundwater tables are falling and most
wells run dry in the long summer months. Because of water
scarcity, farmers are only able to grow a narrow range of 1 or 2
dry land crops. The growing population is increasing the pressure
on land.

26. CONT…
.
Forest has been cut down to make way for agriculture. This
caused rapid soil erosion, and use of more fertilizer and
pesticides reduced soil fertility. There is an urgent need to
conserve both soil and water to raise farm productivity.
Therefore rise of watershed development is necessary.

27. WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
IN RAJASTHAN
Rajasthan is one of the region in India where there is scarcity
of water thereforewatershed management is practiced in
Rajasthan, watershed management practice include various
methods to collect water and then use it for human
utilization.
Large number of arid regions exist in Rajasthan
where watershed management is necessary to conserve
water in rainfall and make use ofavailable water property.
Local people take active participation in construction of
tanks, dam and other tasks related to watershed activities.

28. Watershed management
practice in Rajasthan

29. CONCLUSION
Watershed is an essential in day to day life,
a vast range of activities of every day 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 ageohydrological 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 amajor cause of land and water
degradation rural proverty in the world.