SR-1/99-2000 : Hydrological problems in the Kandi Belt of Jammu Region

Abstract

The submontane tract lying in the outer Himalayas of Jammu Division of Jammu & Kashmir is locally termed as Kandi belt. This unit is an extension of the Kandi belt in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttaranchal. The upper portion of Kandi belt consists of low hills covered by shrubs and forest, and the lower terrain has cultivated lands and gully beds. It has undulating topography, steep and irregular slopes, erodible and low water retentive soils and badly dissected terrain by numerous gullies.

Tract further south-southwest of the Kandi belt is generally a modulating land. The topographic gradient is gentle. Boulders and pebbles almost disappear from the surface and their place is taken by finer material. In the tract the groundwater is met with at a shallow depth and supports good agriculture. This tract of undulating land with flowing stream and good agricultural ground presents a green look. This tract is locally known as the Sirowal Belt, equivalent of the Tarai Belt in other parts of the Himalayas. Shallow ground water conditions in the Sirowal belt are causing water logging and, at places, soil salinity problems.

Population in the entire Kandi belt suffers from water scarcity. Ground water table is deep. Streams of the area carry huge amount of debris material during rainy season due to fragile geological conditions. Human activities such as cutting of trees and shrubs for domestic purposes and unmanaged agricultural practices have aggravated the denudation rate. The soil loss has affected the agricultural production and hydrological regime to a large extent. Flashy flows of the streams and rivulets in the Kandi belt has denuded most of the top fertile soil, and due to excess runoff of water, the area remains devoid of water except in the monsoon months.

The major land and water management problems being faced in the Siwalik hills and Kandi belt include excessive runoff, soil erosion, land degradation and erratic rainwater distribution in space and time, hampering agricultural production. Too little and too much syndrome is playing havoc in both Kandi and Sirowal belts, respectively. If, through appropriate soil and water conservation measures, rainwater in the Kandi belt can be harvested and conserved, this would result in mitigating the problems being faced in both the Kandi and Sirowal belts. In order to control the spread of the degraded lands in this area and to restore these for productive purposes, a comprehensive strategy for survey, monitoring and planning is required.

This report is a compilation of the status of different natural resources as well as of the problems and constraints being faced in utilizing the scientific techniques for improvement of water and other resources in the Kandi belt. Suitable actions and methods are also recommended to achieve the goal of tackling these problems in the study area.