AGRON 5121 Agriculture Water Management

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT: DEFINITION AND CONCEPT

INTRODUCTION

In order to understand the concept of watershed, you may go out when it is raining. You
would observe that during rains, water flows here and there and eventually follows a particular
path. Finally, it gets collected at a particular point (particularly lowest point in your area)
depending on the slope. The area which contributes water and flows to the lowest point
resembles the watershed. Have you ever observed the flow of rainwater that falls on the roof of
your house rainwater falling on a roof always flows through a particular outlet (spout). Taking
spout as a point/outlet, the area of the roof may be termed as a watershed. If you have separate
spouts for different roofs in your house, you may have many small watersheds within your
house. The term watershed consists of two words: water and shed. Water occurs in nature mostly
in solid, liquid and vapour forms. In watershed, water is considered mainly in liquid form. The
word "shed" refers to the roof of a shed which collects rainwater and drains out. Shed thus can be
defined as an area well marked by a boundary which receives rainwater and drains out towards a
common drainage point or outlet.

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT
Watershed is defined as a geohydrological unit draining to a common point by a system
of drains. All lands on earth are part of one watershed or other. Watershed is thus the land and
water area, which contributes runoff to a common point.
A watershed is an area of land and water bounded by a drainage divide within which the
surface runoff collects and flows out of the watershed through a single outlet into a lager river (
or ) lake.
Watershed is a topographically delineated area drained by a stream system i.e. the total
land area above some point on a stream or river that drains down slope to the lowest point. The
watershed is a hydrologic unit often used as physical unit, biological unit and a socio-economic
political unit for planning and management of natural resources. Watershed may also be defined
as a natural unit of land which collects water and drains through a common point called an outlet
by a system of drains. Therefore, watershed is the area encompassing the catchments, command
and delta area of a stream. The top most portion of the watershed is known as "ridge" and a line
joining the ridge portion along the boundary of the watershed is called as "ridgeline". A
watershed is thus a logical unit for planning optimal development of its soil, water and biomass
resources.

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WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

Watershed management is the process of guiding and organizing use of land and other
resources in the watershed to provide desired goods and services without adversely affecting soil,
water and other natural resources. Watershed management in the broader sense means
maintaining the equilibrium between elements of natural eco-system or vegetation, land or water
on the one hand and human activities on the other hand. The watershed management
programmes aim at improving soil health, soil tilth and drainage and achieving efficient use of
harvested and stored rainwater for supplemental irrigation and consequently enhanced
productivity and higher economic returns. From community development point of view,
watershed management programmes aim at controlling flooding, water logging and soil erosion
in order to increase agricultural productivity and a more dependable, cleaner water supply for
domestic and industrial use. These programmes also help in minimizing risk of floods in rural
and urban areas down streams, reducing sedimentation and conserving natural resources
efficiently and effectively. Watershed management programmes strive to improve the lot of the
entire farming communities rather than focusing on individual farmers only.

Focus of Watershed Management

Watershed programmes focus mainly on the following:

 Village common lands as well as private lands

 Institutionalized community participation
 Sustainable rural livelihood support system
 Decentralized planning and decision making
 Ridge to valley treatment approach
 Integrated and holistic development of the watershed unit
 Protecting natural resources through stakeholders' participation
 Providing best unit for planning a development programme.

Concept of Watershed Management

Watershed management is based on the concept of sustainability and meeting the needs
of present population without compromising the interests of future generation. The concept of
watershed management is important for the efficient utilization of water and other natural
resources. The concept of watershed management may be expressed in symbolic form by
"POWER".

P Production of food-fodder fuel fruit fibres fish-milk-combine on a sustainable basis.

Pollution control.
Prevention of floods.

O Over exploitation of resources to be minimized by controlling excessive Biotic

interferences like over grazing.
Operational practicability of all on-farm operations and follow up programmes including
easy access to different locations in watershed.

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W Water storage at convenient locations for different purposes.

Wild animal and indigenous plant life conservation at selected places.

E Erosion control
Eco-system safety
Economic stability
Employment generation

R Rainwater harvesting
Recharge of groundwater
Reduction of drought hazard
Reduction of siltation in multipurpose reservoirs
Recreation
POWER is not only important symbolically but watershed programmes bestow real power to the
beneficiaries by improving their socio-economic lot.

Benefits of Watershed Management

Watershed management is expected to ensure the following benefits.
 Controls floods, erosion and sedimentation.
 Enhances productivity per unit area, per unit time and per unit of water.
 Increases cropping intensity.
 Leads to proper utilization of waste lands through alternate land use systems.
 Ensures ecological balance.
 Maximizes income through integrated farming system.
 Stabilizes income even under unfavourable weather conditions.
Objectives of Watershed Management
The different objectives of watershed management programmes are:
 To control damaging runoff and degradation and thereby conservation of soil and water.
 To manage and utilize the runoff water for useful purpose.
 To protect, conserve and improve the land of watershed for more efficient and sustained
production.
 To protect and enhance the water resource originating in the watershed.
 To check soil erosion and to reduce the effect of sediment yield on the watershed.
 To rehabilitate the deteriorating lands.
 To moderate the floods peaks at down stream areas.
 To increase infiltration of rainwater.
 To improve and increase the production of timbers, fodder and wild life resource
 To enhance the ground water recharge, wherever applicable.
 Improving infrastructural facilities with regard to storage, transportation and marketing of the
agricultural produce.
 Setting up small scale agro industries.
 Improving the socio-economic status of the farmers.
 Employment generation.
 Encouraging people participation.

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Principles of Watershed Management

The main principles of watershed management based on resource conservation, resource

generation and resource utilization are

 Utilising the land according to its capability.

 Protecting productive top soil.
 Reducing siltation hazards in storage tanks, reservoirs and lower fertile lands.
 Maintaining adequate vegetation cover on soil surface throughout the year.
 In situ rainwater conservation.
 Safe diversion of excess water to storage points through vegetative waterways.
 Stabilization of gullies by providing checks at specified intervals and thereby increasing
groundwater recharge.
 Increasing crop intensity and land equivalent ratio through intercropping and sequence
cropping.
 Safe utilization of marginal lands through alternate land use systems with agriculture-
horticulture-forestry-pasture systems with varied options and combinations.
 Water harvesting for supplemental and off-season irrigation.
 .Maximizing agricultural productivity per unit area per unit time and per unit of water.
 Ensuring sustainability of the eco-system befitting the man-animal-plant –water system.
 Maximizing the combined income from the interrelated and dynamic crop live stock-tree-
labour system over years.
 Stabilizing total income.
TYPES OF WATERSHED
Watersheds is classified depending upon the size, drainage, shape and land use pattern.
1. Macro watershed (> 50,000 Hect)
2. Sub-watershed (10,000 to 50,000 Hect)
3. Milli-watershed (1000 to10000 Hect)
4. Micro watershed (100 to 1000 Hect)
5. Mini watershed (1-100 Hect)
Water Shed Management Process
The collection, inventorization and documentation of the resources required for water
shed management is known as benchmark survey. The benchmark survey on one hand provides
requisite information for suitable watershed planning and on the other hand helps in estimating
the effect of watershed management works through evaluation and monitoring. The various
resources can be collected, inventoried and documented through the following surveys.
1. Demographic Survey
The demographic survey consists of documentation of human and cattle population, wild
animals, etc. for better planning. Our basic aim for the development of the watershed is to
develop the socio-economic condition of the habitant of the area, hence the related information
on these aspects is very necessary.
2. Vegetation
The information on type of vegetation, its status, present yield, agronomical practices,
etc. helps in identifying the gaps with respect to expected optimum, that is, sustained production.
The gap in present and optimum yield of all the vegetation is very important to identify proper
control measures.

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3. Soil-cum-Land Capability Survey

The information on soil (both chemical and physical properties) including geology,
drainage, etc. coupled with topographical and hydrological survey helps in preparation of land
capability classification map of the watershed which is the of top sheet, revenue map and other
suitable instruments/equipments.
4. Engineering-cum-Topographical Survey
The topographical survey basically consists of demarcation of hillocks, ridges, valleys,
depressions, streams, land slope (both degree and length), etc. in order to know the extent of
degree of risk and ease of planning. The engineering survey consists of mapping the existing
structural measures of erosion control in the watershed viz. dams, culvert, retaining walls,
terracing, bonding, trenching, water harvesting structure, etc. It also provides the opportunity for
identification of problem area.
5. Hydrological and Water Resources
This basically helps in estimating the water balance of the watershed for crop production.
The information on precipitation and other agro climate logical parameter is generally collected
from the meteorological observatory already existing in the watershed or from the nearby area.
The information on existing water resources, that is, water bodies, viz. reservoirs, ponds, lakes,
wells (both shallow and deep), stream flow, etc. is collected by surveying the watershed.

WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

According to 1999-2000 statistics a net sown area of 141.23 million hectare is under
cultivation, out of which 84.58 million hectare is rainfed area. Watershed Development as a
means for increasing agricultural production in rainfed, semi-arid areas. There are nearly 85
million hectares of land as rainfed area in the country. These areas were bypassed by the Green
Revolution and so experienced little or no growth in agricultural production for several decades.
By capturing the Water Resources Management and improving the management of soil and
vegetation, Watershed Development aims to create conditions conducive to higher agricultural
productivity while conserving natural resources.
Water shed development originally managed by national wasteland development board
under Ministry of Environment and forest. It is now placed under Ministry of Rural
Development and Department of Land Resources. The main objective of this programme for
development of waste lands in non-forest areas, checking of land degradation, putting such
waste land into sustainable use and increasing bio mass, availability of fuel wood, fodder and
restoration ecology etc. . Thus concept of watershed development is a integrated nurture with
multi disciplinary activities in the area. At present Ministry of Rural Development and
Department of Land Resources, Government of India funding watershed development
programmes under D.P.A.P., D.D.P., and Integrated Wasteland Development Plan (I.W.D.P.)
etc. This programme is intended to be taken up in rain-fed and drought-prone areas especially
predominated by SC/ST population and preponderance of wasteland. There are six major
projects/programmes in watershed development programme namely,
National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA)
Watershed Development in Shifting Cultivation Areas (WDSCA)
Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP)
Desert Development Programme (DDP)
Integrated Wasteland Development Project (IWDP)
Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS)

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These six projects/ programmes also account for about 70 percent of funds and area under
watershed programmes in the country. Through various watershed development programmes,
about 30 million ha.

Watershed management practices

A) In terms of purpose
To increase infiltration
To increase water holding capacity
To prevent soil erosion

B) Method and accomplishment

In brief various control measures are:
I)Vegetative measures ( Agronomical measures)
Strip cropping
Pasture cropping
Grass land farming
Wood lands
II) Engineering measures ( Structural practices)
Contour bunding
Terracing
Construction of earthern embankment
Construction of check dams
Construction of farm ponds
Construction of diversion
Gully controlling structure
Rock dam
Establishment of permanent grass and vegetation
Providing vegetative and stone barriers
Construction of silt tanks dentension
Influence of soil conservation measures and vegetation cover on erosion, Runoff and Nutrient
loss. Rainwater harvesting is the main component of watershed management. Some of the
watershed management structures are as follows.

Watershed Management Structures

Broad Bed and Furrows
 To control erosion and to conserve soil moisture in the soil during rainy days.
 The broad bed and furrow system is laid within the field boundaries. The land levels
taken and it is laid using either animal drawn or tractor drawn ridgers.

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Contour Bund
 To intercept the run off flowing down the slope by an embankment.
 It helps to control run off velocity. The embankment may be closed or open, surplus
arrangements are provided wherever necessary.

Contour bunding

Bench Terracing
 It helps to bring sloping land into different level strips to enable cultivation.
 It consists of construction of step like fields along contours by half cutting and half
filling. Original slope is converted into level fields. The vertical & horizontal intervals
are decided based on level slope.

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Micro Catchments for Sloping Lands

It is useful for insitu moisture conservation and erosion control for tree crops.

Check dam

Salient features
 A low weir normally constructed across the gullies
 Constructed on small streams and long gullies formed by erosive activity of flood water
 It cuts the velocity and reduces erosive activity
 The stored water improves soil moisture of the adjoining area and allows percolation to
recharge the aquifers

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 Spacing between the check dams water spread of one should be beyond the water spread
of the other
 Height depends on the bank height, varies from a metre to 3 metre and length varies from
less than 3m to 10m
 Cost varies from Rs. 40000/- to Rs. 100000/- per unit

Percolation pond

Function
To augment the ground water recharge
Salient features
 Shallow depression created at lower portions in a natural or diverted stream course
 Preferable under gentle sloping stream where narrow valley exists
 Located in soils of permeable nature
 Adaptable where 20-30 ground water wells for irrigation exist with in the zone of
influence about 800 – 900m
 Minimum capacity may be around 5000 m3 for the sack of economy
 Also act as silt detention reservoir
 Cost varies from Rs. 60000 to 150000 per unit

Stone Barriers

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