SITE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR WATERSHED STRUCTURES IN KHOKAR NALA BY USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

Abstract

Water is a key component in determining the quality of our lives. Watershed is a natural hydrological unit. Watershed approach is holistic, linking upstream and downstream area. In KHOKAR NALA drainage basin, degradation rate is increasing and depletion of resources is occurred. There is loss of productive soil. Also there is reduced carrying capacity of streams. In present study, potential sites for watershed structure in KHOKAR NALA basin of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India have been identified by using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Various thematic maps such as Land use/land cover, stream order, slope etc. are prepared using remote sensing application. The remote sensing data is operationally being utilized for mapping various resources. The need is to step ahead towards integrating these resources maps with their resources information and other socioeconomic data for general action plan. GIS can be used to manipulation of data, product generation, data management and data retrieval, etc. Remote sensing gives timely and accurate information on spatial distribution- land use, soil vegetation density, forest, geology water resources. The final map showing different categories of suitability sites for water harvesting structure such as Check dams, percolation tanks, farm ponds, contour bunding, and contour trenching have been suggested.