This phase takes care of the general health of the watershed and ensures normal functioning. By continuing you agree to the use of cookies. Watershed management aims to care for natural resources in a way that supports human needs for water, food, fiber, energy, and habitation, while supporting other agreed attributes linked to recreation, esthetics, and/or ecologic function. Main Components 5. (b) Analysis of the cause of the problem and its effect. Introduction/Overview. The study by Batchelor et al. Examples from selected case studies on the efficiency of ecological engineering measures in watershed management are presented. The various measures adopted under soil and water harvesting is: (b) Building of contour bunds along contours for erosion. What is Watershed Management Planning? The important question regarding the trade-off between operating at an optimal hydrologic unit and an optimal social unit is its severity. Watershed management is a term used to describe the process of implementing land use practices and water management practices to protect and improve the quality of the water and other natural resources within a watershed by managing the use of those land and water resources in a comprehensive manner. Most structures built on the upper reaches of the main streams flowing into the reservoir have been broken by the monsoon rainwater carrying branches and boulders, and there is not much space in villages to build additional RWH structures. Content Filtrations 6. The efficient way for sub-surface water storage, soil moisture conservation or ground water recharge technologies should be adopted properly under water resource development plan. All environmental, social, and economic concerns are combined to treat watersheds in an integrated manner. Plagiarism Prevention 4. Objectives: Area development programme through restoration of ecological balance and optimum utilization of land, water, livestock and human resources to mitigate the effect of drought. 2. the principles of long-term watershed management, 3. the elements of successful watershed management frameworks, and 4. the benefits of the watershed management approach. It includes the transformation of water allocation, the improvement of environmental management, the reform of pricing of water services, modernization of institutions, community and stakeholder engagement, and the improvement of water information and knowledge. Meaning of Watershed Management 2. First, projects with high investment in social organization may not be replicable beyond a small number of cases. Attention is paid to agriculture and forest management and production, forage production and pasture management, socio economic conditions to achieve the objectives of watershed management. (c) Furrow/Ridges and Furrow ridge method of cultivation across the slope. Darghouth et al. Watershed is that land area which drains or contributes runoff to a common outlet. With the worsening of the groundwater table downstream, more intensive drilling of wells is needed, which the poor could often not afford, leading to inequitable distribution and use of water (Calder, 2005). Watershed management approach with appropriate scale has emerged to deal with the complex challenges of natural resource management. Watershed management requires a long-term commitment that is adaptive to changes in population, climate, culture, and resource-use demands. These issues are unique to each watershed and each nation. Therefore any generalized approach to watershed management must be customized to each setting when put into practice. All watersheds can be divided into smaller sub-watersheds” . ScienceDirect ® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V. 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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B012348530400309X, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080454054000823, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012409548909117X, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128148518000033, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128148518000057, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124095489123899, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128180860000078, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128152751000024, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128148518000021, URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444531995000026, Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, 2005, Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, From Catchment Management to Managing River Basins, Current Directions in Water Scarcity Research, WSM in its modern or comprehensive form is relatively of recent origin in Bhutan, though it is part of a number of legislations since 1974 (National Forest Policy). (a) Selection of best solution to problems identified, (b) Application of the solution to the problems of the land. [9] note that the most successful applied research and knowledge sharing in watershed management programs worldwide occur when stakeholders are full partners in the research process at all the stages of identification, design, implementation, and evaluation, and technologies are offered as a range of choices to be adapted. In order to have a practical solution to above problem it is necessary to go through four phases for a full scale watershed management. Operating at the micro-watershed scale does not necessarily aggregate up or capture upstream-downstream interactions. Practices. Similarly, stakeholder involvement and participation normally covered on-site requirements of local farmers, and the spatial dimension was tackled through community-based planning of their region. To control damaging runoff and degradation and thereby conservation of soil and water. The first aspect of IWRM is a hydrological assessment, which characterizes the properties and interactions of water resources within the watershed. Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the sustainable distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions that affect the plant, animal, and human communities within the watershed boundary. Fig. Watershed management professionals generally view that increasing the thickness of vegetative cover in the upper catchments would reduce erosion and sediment load in the runoff, and increase the base flows, irrespective of the agroecology. These include the Wang WSM project (WWMP) supported by European commission and Lingmutey Chhu watershed project (LCWP) supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) (Singh and Karki, 2004). Watershed management means to conserve soil and water so as to increase the bio-mass production. Read this article to learn about Watershed Management. The hilly and rocky Upper Sukhi watershed has relatively high rainfall, occurring in a few months in a year resulting in high-velocity flows that do not allow water harvesting structures to remain intact and functional along the main streams. Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 [11] states that all states could establish the institutional basis for IWRM by the year 2000 and have completed parts of all freshwater programs by 2025. A watershed or a catchment is a piece of land or an area that drains rainwater into a lake, river or stream. A shed that holds water? However, the reverse is also true, to some degree. (iii) National Watershed Development Programme for Rainfed Agriculture (NWDPRA): Objectives: To conserve and utilize rain water from both arable and non arable lands on watershed basis. It should be noted that for other authors [18], SVP has a broader meaning but we retain the original meaning here. Watershed management projects are generally anticipated not only to provide local on-site benefits at the micro-watershed level but also to offer positive externalities in the form of valuable environmental services downstream and to provide a means of correcting downstream negative externalities within the larger watershed. Steps 6. Theory and experience have shown that facilitating collective action in small, village-level watersheds has fewer constraints. Often international agencies and scholars, aggressively promoting small-scale rainwater harvesting in catchments, view rainwater as separate from groundwater and surface water (COMMANS, 2005; Stockholm Environment Institute, 2009). Watershed management in this must take account of the following: The relative lack of treatment of the uppermost parts of the watershed which are forested, uninhabited, and directly under the control of the state Forest Department, A large number of structures already built on the (smaller) drainage lines, implying that there are few suitable sites left to build more numbers of large RWH structures, such as check dams. The competition and conflicts over freshwater resources are intensifying. IWRM is, therefore, a holistic approach to water management involving technical, economic, financial, and institutional aspects [8]. Meaning of Watershed Management: The word “watershed” introduced in 1920 was used for the “water parting boundaries”. The factors affecting water availability and demand. c. Over exploitation of resources should be minimized. The assessment includes land use, rainfall, runoff of streams and rivers, and groundwater. Watch this short video to learn what a watershed really is. The Quick Guide is also intended for managers The WSM Division (WMD) was established under the Department of Forests and Park Services. More wells and RWH structures built in the last decade has supported a growth in irrigated agriculture in (micro) watershed villages. Hydraulic works may increase the impact of floods, especially the larger ones (e.g., river channeling). A watershed refers to an area of land that comprises a set of streams or rivers that drain into a larger water body like an ocean or a river. Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners, and policy-makers at all levels. Everyone in the world lives in a watershed. At the turn of the 21st century, many countries adopted the Agenda 21 guidelines and IWRM—a 2008 survey showed that 22% of the world countries had implemented IWRM plans, while 37% partially implemented it [12]—which has been defined as “a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems” [1]. Tomer, in Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, 2005. Watershed is that land area which drains or contributes runoff to a common outlet. In addition, changes in taxation led to significant declines in the income for the Hill Resource Management Society. Watershed management aims to care for natural resources in a way that supports human needs for water, food, fiber, energy, and habitation, while supporting other agreed attributes linked to recreation, esthetics, and/or ecologic function. Prior to 2009, WSM projects were implemented with donor support. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2012. From the biophysical context, it is observed that as the size of watershed increases the influence of land use on the upstream-downstream hydrology reduces while the influence of precipitation increases (FAO, 2006). Ü. Mander, in Encyclopedia of Ecology, 2008. On one side of the debate are those who think the word can only refer to a ridge of land separating rivers and streams flowing in one direction from those flowing in the opposite direction. Watershed management implies an effective conservation of soil and water resources for sustainable production with minimum non point resources (NFS) pollutant losses. Adapted from FAO (Ed. There is hardly any evidence that can prove that the improved conditions in the wider watershed result as a consequence of micro-level activities and institutions at upstream level or even that the activities were optimal or cost-effective ways to improve conditions in the watershed. h. Recharging of ground water to provide regular water supply for consumption and industry as well as irrigation. Define watershed. ), Coping With Water Scarcity: An Action Framework for Agriculture and Food Security. This can be done by local authorities (municipal water management) or it can be done by individuals at home (when we manage how we use our own water supplies). The Dublin Statement on Water and Sustainable Development set out four guiding principles: Freshwater is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development, and the environment. Takes a watershed embraces physical-biological features as well as irrigation unit and an optimal social unit is severity. 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