Soil Erosion Based Prioritization and Development of CAT Plan for Catchment of Rangawan Reservoir in Bundelkhand Region of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Comprehensive land development procedures attract special attention in many countries that enable soil and water conservation, better and productive land use and optimum and effective use of available natural resources. The prioritization of watershed helps in taking up soil conservation measures on the priority basis in which recent technology of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) plays important role because of easy handling and manipulation of spatial information and data. After determining the priority sub-watersheds, the scientifically developed catchment area treatment (CAT) plan may be able to check the movement of eroded particles towards reservoir and also helpful in maintaining the availability of water during summer through conservation structures and preserve soil moisture for healthy growth of flora and fauna in the region.In the present study, prioritization of sub-watersheds and development of CAT plan for soil and water conservation were carried out for the catchment of Rangawan reservoir situated in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The Bundelkhand region of M.P. can be characterized with degraded land, undulated topography, frequent drought, limited soil depth susceptible to high rate of erosion. The catchment area of Rangawan reservoir has been divided in to 39 subwatersheds. Average annual soil loss from the different land forms and land uses of the watershed was estimated using universal soil loss equation (USLE). The average annual soil loss in the sub-watersheds varies between 0.4 and 35.8 tones ha-1 year-1. On the basis of annual soil loss, priorities of sub-watersheds have been fixed for soil conservation measures. WS-13 has been found the most environmentally stressed sub-watershed where average annual soil loss is 21.94 tones ha-1 year-1and WS-35 can be taken at the last for soil conservation works where soil loss is 1.59 tones ha-1 year-1. Overlaying of various thematic maps including drainage, soil, land use, geomorphology and slope, a CAT plan for the priority sub-watersheds have been developed consisting 121 boulder bunds, 9 check dams, 88 gully plugs and 1 percolation tank.