Prioritization of sub-watersheds for conservation measures in a semi arid watershed using remote sensing and GIS

Land and water resources development plans are generally adopted at watershed level. Delineation of watersheds and their prioritization within large river basins requires host of terrain parameters to be studied and analysed. Chopan watershed in Central India has been studied for sub-watershed delineation and prioritization based on drainage morphometry, land use/land cover and sediment yield index analysis using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The watershed was demarcated into five sub-watersheds on the basis of drainage flow directions, contour value, slope, elevation. Geocoded satellite data of 1989 and 2001 on 1:50 000 scale were visually interpreted to prepare land use/land cover and drainage maps which were later digitized using Arcview/ArcGIS. Linear and shape aspects of the sub-watersheds were computed and used for prioritization. The results show widespread variation in drainage characteristics, land cover changes and sediment yield rates across sub-watersheds. On the basis of morphometric, land use/land cover change and sediment yield index, sub-watersheds were grouped into low, medium and high priority. A correlation of results show that SW1 and SW5 are common sub-watersheds falling under high and low priority based on morphometric, land use change analysis and SYI. The priority list of sub-watersheds will be crucial for decision making and implementation of land and water resource conservation projects.