2. In India 70% of landmass is underlain by
hard rocks so percolation is very slow
3. Millions of hectares of prime
agricultural land being laid waste
due to over-irrigation induced
waterlogging and salinity.
4. Why we talk about dry lands only
• Worlds major land mass is part of dry
land
• Major biodiversity located in this
system
• Dry land system is most fragile system
• Desertification is an irreversible
process
• Extinction of species is reduction of
gene pool for future
• Water and soil are most essential input
for food grain
13. Hydrosphere: water in earth’s
environment…some hard facts
• Global water balance
– Average precipitation less
than 1000mm annually
– More than 95% is sea water
• Of all fresh water
– Large part locked up as ice-
caps
– More than 95% of usable fresh
water is groundwater
– Less than 1% is surface
water
– Not all groundwater is
accessible to man
P = E + RO + GW + ET + SM
P= Precipitation E= Evaporation
RO= Run off GW= Ground Water
ET= Evapo-transpiration SM= Soil moisture
15. Nomenclature of watershed in India
Category Numbers Size (000 ha)
Region 6 25000-100000
Basin 35 3000-25000
Catchments 112 1000-3000
Sub Catchments 500 200-1000
Watershed 3237 50-200
Sub Watershed 12000 10-50
Mille watershed 72000 1-10
Micro watershed 400000 0.5-1
16. The life of a river is its catchment area or watershed,
that is the area from where it literally catches its water
17. Watershed development is
aimed at treating these
catchments areas to slow
down the intensely flowing
water at every point to make it
walk rather than run so that it
remains available for use in the
village for a longer period of
time
19. What is watershed development
Watershed development is not an activity
Watershed development is not just a program
Watershed development is a concept
It is an approach for sustainability
20. Objectives
• To reduce run off
• To reduce soil erosion
• To increase soil moisture
• To make water streams perennial
• To increase ground water level
• To rejuvenate the past flora and fauna
• To enhance productivity of land
• Overall sustainability of ecosystem
Ridge
Valley
21. PRINCIPLE OF SOIL AND WATER
CONSERVATION MEASURE
Increase the time of concentration and
thereby allowing more runoff water to be
absorbed and held in the soil profile.
Intercepting a long slope into several short
ones, so as to maintain less than a critical
velocity for the runoff water.
Protection against damages owing to
excessive runoff.
Prevent excessive soil and water losses.
32. Types of Farm ponds
• Dugout farm ponds
• Embankment type farm ponds
33. Dugout farm ponds harvest rainwater
within the farm for protecting the crop from gaps in
rain
34. Farm pond meant for protective irrigation and
the seven harvests
1.With the first major rains, fish fingerlings are
released
2.The second harvest is of edible water plants
3.The major harvest is, of course, the kharif crop
4.Rice is grown at the edge of the pond
5.There is sufficient water to irrigate the rabi crop
6.Unirrigated rabi crops like gram after the water
recedes
7.The seventh harvest is of silt deposits
35. Stone masonry check dams built on larger streams can used
to support Community Lift Irrigation Projects
37. BUNDING
Acts as barrier to
check run-off
Reduced soil erosion
and increased soil
moisture, productivity
and biomass
38. LAND LEVELING AND BUNDING
Increased infiltration and time of concentration
39. BRUSHWOOD CHECK DAM
LOOSE ROCK DAM
Reduce runoff velocity and stabilize the gully
Increase cultivated Area
GRADE STABILISATION STRUCTURE
40. Bench terracing
Bench terracing is practised on steep hilly slopes where agriculture
has replaced natural forest and grasslands since time immemorial.
Thus, more reduction in slope length will not be able to reduce the
intensity of runoff water.
41. Bench terracing involves converting the original ground
into level step like fields constructed by half cutting and
half filling, which reduces the degree of the slope. In hilly
areas of Nilgiri hills, in North East hill areas of India and in
Himachal Pradesh, this approach of bench terracing for
agro-forestry models is gradually getting popular.
44. watershed management has been defined as an integration of
technology with in the natural boundaries of a drainage area
for optimum development of land , water and plant resources
to meet the basic minimum needs of the people in a sustainable
manner