Volume : 5 | Issue : 10 | October 2016 ISSN - 2250-1991 | IF : 5.215 | IC Value : 77.

65

Original Research Paper Economics

Watershed Management- Principles, Limitations

and Process

Mrs. Manisha Gaur Assistant professor in Economics , PGGC-11 Chandigarh

A watershed is made up of its physical and hydrological natural resources as well as human resources. Watershed
ABSTRACT

management is the process of guiding and organizing land use and use of other resources in the watershed to provide
desired goods and services without adversely affecting soil and water resources. For identification of Water shed Silt Yield
Index is explained in the paper. An effort has been made to explain the principles, limitations and process of Water Shed
management.

KEYWORDS watershed, principles, Identification

INTRODUCTION OF Water Shed • Silt yield index

Watershed is a geo-hydrological unit, which drains at a com- • Existing water resources
mon point. Rain falling on the mountain starts flowing down • Water quality
into small rivulets. Many of them, as they come down, join • Fertility of the soil
to form small streams. The small streams form bigger streams; • Existing employment opportunity
and finally the bigger streams join to form a nullah to drain • Availability of basic amenities viz, transport, school, hos-
out excess water from a village. The entire area that supplies pital (for both human and animal), post office, bank, co-
water to a stream or river, that is, the drainage basin or catch- operative societies, marketing and communication
ment area, is called the watershed of that particular stream or • Adoption of the village by other agencies
river. • Considering the above parameters, a watershed should
be selected for treatment.
Identification of Watershed
All the watershed programme executing agencies work hard Focus and Principles Of Water Shed Management
to identify a watershed which may be taken up on priority for Watershed degradation in the third world countries threat-
development. In the absence of any clear-cut parameters, the ens the livelihood of millions of people and constrains the
identification of the watersheds for development is done on ability of countries to develop a healthy agricultural and nat-
parameters like approach, cooperation of the villagers, etc. It ural resource base. Increasing populations of people and
is a matter of concern that in certain watersheds more than livestock are rapidly depleting the existing natural resource
10 agencies are working and in some none. There is no doubt base because the soil and vegetation system cannot support
that every watershed has to be taken up for development and the present level of use. In a sense, the carrying capacity of
a watershed developed today may be needing further manage- these lands is being exceeded. As the population continues to
ment/development after a lapse of 10-15 years. However, there rise, the pressure on forests, community lands and marginal
is a need of selecting a watershed for development on priority. agricultural lands leads to inappropriate cultivation practices,
forest removal and grazing intensities that leave a barren en-
As of today, the Silt Yield Index (SYI) is recommended as the vironment yielding unwanted sediment and damaging stream-
parameter to decide the prioritization of the watershed. The flow to down stream communities
watershed which is observed to yield maximum yield is tak-
en first for development followed by the one which is next to The focus of watershed development:
yield the silt and so on. • Village common lands as well as private lands
• Institutionalized community participation
The SYI is computed using the following • Sustainable rural livelihood support system
YI = Sum (Ai * Wi * Di) * 100/Aw • Capacity building
Where, • Decentralized planning and decision-making
Ai = Area of ith Erosion Intensity Mapping Unit (EIMU) i =1 to • Ridge to valley treatment approach
n • Integrated and holistic development of the unit
Wi = Weightage value of ith EIMU • Protecting natural resources through stakeholders’ partic-
Di = Adjusted delivery ratio assigned to ith EIMU ipation
N = No. of mapping units • Provides best unit for planning a development pro-
Aw = Total area of the watershed gramme
• Principles of Watershed Management
However, the above procedure is not being used by common
people and is limited to few very skilled and experienced peo- The main principles of watershed management are:
ple dealing with the subject. It is worth to note that this pro- • Utilizing land according to its capacity.
cedure was primarily recommended to prioritize a watershed • Putting adequate vegetal cover on the soil.
under River Valley Project (RVP) and Flood Prone River (FPR) • Conserving as much rainwater as possible at the place
projects. where it falls both at farmlands and common property
resources: In-situ conservation.
With the present emphasis on participatory approach in water- • Draining out excess water with a safe velocity and divert-
shed management programmes, we need to introduce some ing it to storage ponds and storing it for future use.
proper parameters to prioritize the watersheds keeping in view • Avoiding gully formation and putting checks at suitable
the core parameter of water and soil. These may be as: intervals to control soil erosion and recharge ground wa-
ter.

254 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH

Volume : 5 | Issue : 10 | October 2016 ISSN - 2250-1991 | IF : 5.215 | IC Value : 77.65

• Maximizing productivity per unit of area, per unit of of risk and ease of planning. The engineering survey consists
time, and per unit of water. of mapping the existing structural measures of erosion control
• Increasing cropping intensity and land equivalent ratio in the watershed viz. dams, culvert, retaining walls, terracing,
through intercropping and sequence cropping. bonding, trenching, water harvesting structure, etc. It also
• Safe productive utilization of marginal lands through al- provides the opportunity for identification of problem area.
ternate land use system.
• Ensuring sustainability of the eco-systems benefiting the 5. Hydrological and Water Resources
man-animal-plant-land-water-complex in the watershed. This basically helps in estimating the water balance of the wa-
• Maximizing the combined income from the interrelated tershed for crop production. The information on precipitation
and dynamic crop-livestock-tree-labour-complex over the and other agro climate logical parameter is generally collect-
years. ed from the meteorological observatory already existing in
the watershed or from the nearby area. The information on
Limitations Of Water Shed Management existing water resources, that is, water bodies, viz. reservoirs,
• Limited success of watershed programme indicates that it ponds, lakes, wells (both shallow and deep), stream flow, etc.
was mainly due to: is collected by surveying the watershed.
• Inadequate analysis of physical and socio-economic envi-
ronment; Now as on today, the thrust has shifted from Watershed Man-
• Indifference to farmers’ circumstances; agement to Integrated Watershed Management.
• Strong bias towards crop production;
• Lack of farmers’ involvement; and no flexibility in the The emerging issues or new paradigms of Integrated Water-
technological options to suit farmers’ needs and their re- shed Management are:
sources.
• Lack of continuation of the soil and water conservation 1. Participation
measures up to the point of financial support; 2. Equality (gender issue, legal issues and policies, landless
• Poor acceptance of contour-based water conservation economically weaker section)
measures due to their disregard to ownership bounda- 3. Equitability
ries; 4. Common property resources
• Antipathy of farmers to maintain structures like diversion 5. Societies, associations
drains, which cost money and resources to some farmers 6. Employment generation
but benefited others; 7. After care and maintenance
• Inadequate arrangement on social fencing to protect for- 8. Responsibilities
estry and pasture lands; 9. Monitoring and evaluation 
• Lack of focus to address the problems of livelihoods of • Crop yield
landless laborers; • Cropping intensity
• Disregard to indigenously known and practiced methods • Cropping sequence and rotation
of soil and water conservation; and • Ground water level
• Lack of clear arrangements and understanding on shar- • Water resources
ing of the harvested water. • Flora and fauna
  • Land development index
Water Shed Management Process • Low flow index
The collection, inventorization and documentation of the re- • Fertilizer intake index
sources required for water shed management is known as • Micro-climate
benchmark survey. The benchmark survey on one hand pro- • Runoff and soil loss
vides requisite information for suitable watershed planning 10.  Partial area concepts
and on the other hand helps in estimating the effect of water-
shed management works through evaluation and monitoring. Conclusion
The various resources can be collected, inventoried and docu- Watershed is a geo-hydrological unit, which drains at a com-
mented through the following surveys. mon point. Rain falling on the mountain starts flowing down
into small rivulets. Many of them, as they come down, join
1. Demographic Survey to form small streams. The small streams form bigger streams;
The demographic survey consists of documentation of human and finally the bigger streams join to form a nullah to drain
and cattle population, wild animals, etc. for better planning. out excess water from a village. The entire area that supplies
Our basic aim for the development of the watershed is to water to a stream or river, that is, the drainage basin or catch-
develop the socio-economic condition of the habitant of the ment area, is called the watershed of that particular stream or
area, hence the related information on these aspects is very river. The Silt Yield Index (SYI) is recommended as the param-
necessary.  eter to decide the prioritization of the watershed. The water-
shed which is observed to yield maximum yield is taken first
2. Vegetation for development followed by the one which is next to yield
The information on type of vegetation, its status, present the silt and so on. A proper watershed management plan can
yield, agronomical practices, etc. helps in identifying the gaps be termed as one, which provides sustained production from
with respect to expected optimum, that is, sustained produc- the watershed without further deteriorating the environment
tion. The gap in present and optimum yield of all the vegeta- and is limited to the resources of the watershed.
tion is very important to identify proper control measures.
References:
3. Soil-cum-Land Capability Survey 1. Kannan K., (2009), Impact evaluation of micro level water resources devel-
The information on soil (both chemical and physical proper- opment and improved agricultural practices, Indian Journal for Soil Conser-
ties) including geology, drainage, etc. coupled with topo- vation.
graphical and hydrological survey helps in preparation of land 2. Om Prakash and Singh H P., (2011), Impact of watershed development pro-
capability classification map of the watershed which is the of gramme on biophysical and economic factors in India. Journal of Soil and
top sheet, revenue map and other suitable instruments/equip- Water Conservation in India.
ments. 3. Reddy Y V R and Sastry G., (2010), Watershed Programmes in India, Scientif-
ic Publishers, New Delhi.
4. Engineering-cum-Topographical Survey 4. Tideman E M.,( 2010), Watershed Management Guidelines for Indian Con-
The topographical survey basically consists of demarcation of ditions, Omega.
hillocks, ridges, valleys, depressions, streams, land slope (both
degree and length), etc. in order to know the extent of degree

255 | PARIPEX - INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH