Prioritization of sub-basins of Ghataprabha River using … · Geomorphological Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (GIUH) technique is used to derive the runoff characteristics of the

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMATICS AND GEOSCIENCES

Volume 3, No 3, 2013

© Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4380

Submitted on January 2013 published on March 2013 605

Prioritization of sub-basins of Ghataprabha River using morphometric

parameters Rajat Kumar Panda

1, Nagarajan R

2

1- Research Scholar, Center of Studies in Resources Engineering, IIT Bombay

2- Associate Professor, IIT Bombay

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Drainage morphometric analysis of river basins indicates the prevailing hydrological

processes. Drainage lines of the Ghataprabha River, has been demarcated from SRTM DEM

and substantiated with the thematic maps. Geographical Information System (GIS) was used

in integrating the data and geo-referencing. Areal, linear, drainage length and density and

relief parameters were determined. Surface storage potential of individual sub-basins was

assessed using the morphometric and terrain parameters and prioritized for development.

Keywords: Ghataprabha river, drainage density, morphometric analysis.

1. Introduction

Drainage network is a function of the climate, soil, geology and relief of the basin. Studies on

quantitative analysis of drainage basins have indicated that distribution of surface water in

different landforms is controlled by the geomorphic characteristics of the basin (Singh, 1992).

Morphometric aspects of river basins are used in characterizing watersheds for prioritization

of developments (Nookaratnam et al., 2005). Synergistic analysis of drainages along with

geomorphology and geology provides an insight to predict the hydrological behavior for un-

gauged basins at sub-basin levels (Esper, 2008). The sub-basins vary in their basin area,

drainage density, bifurcation ratio, circularity ratio, constant of channel maintenance etc.,

which are used in prioritization process. Spatial variation in lithology plays an important role

in controlling sediment yield. The organic content, infiltration capacities, and resistance to

erosion are substantially decreased over the cultivated soils. Nookaratnam et al., (2005) used

the sediment yield index (SYI) model and morphometric information in positioning of check

dams within the micro-watershed.

Sediment yield controlled by those factors that control erosion and sediment delivery,

including local topography, soil properties, climate, vegetation cover, catchment morphology,

drainage network characteristics, and land use (Hovius, 1998). Geomorphological

Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (GIUH) technique is used to derive the runoff characteristics

of the sub-basins in the Varada River, western ghat sections, India. The rainfall-runoff

modeling of a river basin involves the production function and the transfer function. The

production function determines the proportion of gross rainfall actually involved in the runoff.

The transfer function spreads the net rainfall over time and space in the river basin. Such a

transfer function can be modeled using the approach of the GIUH. These models make it

possible to forecast the hydrograph shape and runoff variation versus time at the basin outlet

by Tejaswini et.al (2011). Biggs et al (2007) studied the water availability (water flow) and

demand (irrigation and settlement) of Krishna River.

Prioritization of sub-basins of Ghataprabha River using morphometric parameters

Rajat Kumar Panda, Nagarajan R

International Journal of Geomatics and Geosciences

Volume 3 Issue 3, 2013 606

2. Study area

Krishna River basin is one of the largest river basins in Peninsular India. It has a catchment

of 258,948 km2. It originates from Western Ghats (mountains) that receive summer monsoon

rainfall (June-September). It passes through tropical wet, tropical wet/dry, semi-arid region of

Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (administrative units) before it joins the Bay of

Bengal. The spatial water demand from the river has lead to disputes over water sharing.

Ghataprabha River is one of the major tributaries of Krishna. This basin is a closed basin. It

has a catchment area of 7600 km2, is spread between 15

0 45’ and 16

0 25’ N and 74

0 00’ and

750 55’E (covers parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka states) and is shown in the figure 1. It joins

River Krishna before Almatti Dam.

Figure 1: Location of Ghataprabha River within Krishna River basin, India

3. Materials and methods

Digital elevation model was generated from Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM)

with a ground resolution of 30 m. It was used to classify the basin into sub-basins and

calculate slope.Topographic sheets of 1:50,000 scales were used in demarcating the

individual drainage lines and the surface storage structures such as tanks and reservoirs. They

were digitized and created a geo referenced data base. Drainage characteristics such as

drainage density, bifurcation ratio, constant for channel maintenance, stream frequency,

length of overland flow, elongation ratio, circularity ratio, etc. were computed. Land cover

information was interpreted from the Indian Remote Sensing satellite image (IRS P6,





RESOURCESAT) LISS III (23.5m) resolution dated 25th

Dec 2010 and Jan 7 2011. Terrain

and morphometric information were used in estimating the sediment yield estimates.

4. Basin Description

4.1 Climate/weather

The river starts from the tropical wet climatic zone, traverse through the semi-arid / arid

zones before its joins the River Krishna. 80% of the annual rainfall is received from the

summer south-west monsoon (June-October) and 20% in winter north-east rainfall. There is a

wide variation. Summer temperature reaches more than 400C in May/April. The relative

humidity is about 30% during non-monsoon periods and 85% during monsoon periods. The

number of rainy days in a month during June to September ranges between 12-25days and the

amount of rainfall from 175 to 520 mm.

4.2 Slope

Digital elevation model generated from SRTM data, figure 2 exhibit the spatial distribution of

elevation contours which are grouped into <526m; 526-814m; 814-712m and 712-973m

above MSL. Minimum contour is 380m and the maximum is 981m above MSL. Majority of

the basin falls under the 380-526 and 526 – 814m elevation level. Figure 3 shows the slope

categorization derived from the SRTM 30m resolution data. The slopes were grouped (based

on the histogram) into 1-30; 3-8

0; 8-36

0; 36-67

0 and >67

0. Majority of the areas are in the 1-3

and 3-80 slope category on the downstream.

Figure 2: Digital elevation model – Ghataprabha River (SRTM data)





Figure 3: Distribution of slope in Ghataprabha River basin

4.3 Geomorphology

The geomorphic units that are observed include - non-dissected lowland plateau basalts (with

gently undulating topography, good thickness of weathered material), dissected high level

plateau basalt (highly undulating, low in weathering), buried pediment (in Kaladgi

sedimentary and Precambrian crystalline, gently undulating to flat areas), shallow buried

pediment in Kaladgi sedimentary (gently undulating weathering up to 2m, transitional zone

from valley bottom to upland) and hills and pediments (mostly in Kaladgi sedimentaries and

Granites)

4.4 Geology

Laterite occurs as capping over Deccan traps, Quartzites and Sandstones and the thickness

varies from 1 to 40m. Alluvium occurs along the major streams and river courses. Oldest

rocks are the Granite Gneisses and Migmatites of Peninsular Gneissic complex of Achaean

age. They are intruded by Pegmatite, quartz vein and basic dykes. Kaladgi series is

represented by Limestone, Dolomitic limestones, Shaley limestones, Shales, Quartzites,

Quartzitic sandstones and Siltstones. Lower Kaladgis consists of Conglomerates,

Orthoquartzites, Siltstone, Limestones and Dolomites. Solution cavities in limestones are also

observed. Badami series consists of Quartzites, Sandstones and Shales. Deccan traps are hard,

massive, jointed with spheroidal weathering at places. Thickness of individual flows varies

from 20 to 45m.





4.5 Soil cover

The soils in this region are of in-situ in nature. Shallow and light-textured soils are observed

on the ridges, ridge slopes, medium textured soils of moderate depth on gently sloping areas

and very deep, heavy textured soils on level to nearly level low lying areas along the

river/stream banks. Characteristics of soils that are formed on different lithological units are:

1. Basaltic landscapes – a). Shallow soils (25-30cm) reddish brown to gray, sandy loamy

to clayey in texture. Poor water holding capacity and well drained. The color ranges

from dark reddish brown to dark brown; gravelly sandy loam to clayey loam; well

drained with high permeability. b). moderately deep soils (45-90cm), dark grayish

brown to very dark grey, moderately drained. Deep to deep clayey loam, dark brown

to dark grayish brown soils on gently sloping land with normal relief. c). Very deep

black soils (100-150cm) occupy low lying areas, high water holding capacity and low

permeability, dark brown to very dark brown with clayey loam to clay, moderately

drained.

2. Limestone - very deep, very dark grey calcareous clayey soils with high water holding

capacity, low permeability; surface texture varies from silty clay to clay, moderately

drained and low permeability.

3. Sandstones - very deep (maximum depth of 15cm), very dark brown and slightly

calcareous clayey loamy soil, moderately drained and permeability, dark reddish

brown and clay loamy sandy to sandy clay loam.

4. Slates and phyllites - shallow (10-30cms), reddish brown clayey loam with low

calcareous, well drained, moderate permeability and susceptible to erosion.

5. Ferruginous quartzites - shallow to deep, reddish brown, gravelly sandy clayey loam,

well drained and high permeability, found on gently sloping to undulated topography

with excessive relief.

6. Gneissic rocks - deep to very deep (50-80cm), very dark grey calcareous clayey soils

which tend to crack during summer, high water holding capacity and low

permeability, soil texture is clay. Alluvial soils are restricted to drainage courses, very

deep dark brown to dark grayish brown silty, clay loams, well drained.

4.6 Cultivation

The main crops that are grown under rain fed conditions are Jowar, Bajra, Millet and Pulses.

The canal irrigation is prevalent in this region and helps in the cultivation of crops such as

Jowar, Wheat, Millets, Cotton, Safflower, Tobacco, Groundnut, Ginger, Linseed, Chillies,

Tur, Gram. Paddy, Sugarcane, Vegetables etc. Some of the lift irrigation schemes have been

functioning for the irrigation purposes. The surface water is not enough to meet the water

demand. In order to satisfy the needs of water demand there has been cases of over

exploitation of ground water causing the faster depletion which is a major concern for the

basin. Apart from this the siltation of surface water structures is quite common resulting in

the reduction of volume capacity of the basin. 1028.96 sq.km of reserved forest area (170

patches) falls within the basin and 18.49 sq km of water tank/ponds (240 numbers) are

present.





5. Drainage analysis

5.1 Stream order

Streams follow the path of least resistance and the stream patterns indicate the spatial

distribution of similar / dissimilar material characteristics. Strahlers’s stream ordering method

was followed. Figure 4 shows the spatial distribution of stream orders and sub-basins within

Ghataprabha River. The stream order reflects the ratio between the soil erodability and the

eroding force exerted on the soil surface. Stream order, reflects a change in the physical

characteristics of the soil. There are seventeen fifth order streams (Table 1 and 2). One

representative fifth order sub-basin from the each agro climate is selected for further studies.

Figure 4: Spatial distribution of micro watersheds, natural drainages and canal network –

Ghataprabha River

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) is defined as ratio of number of streams in Nth

order to N+1th

order

(Horton, 1945), representing the stages of a river development. In matured basin of uniform

relief, an orderly stream development, and more or less uniform bifurcation ratio could be

observed. It ranges between 3 and 5 for river basins where geologic structures do not distort

the drainage pattern. Potential flood damage increases as the value of bifurcation ratio

increases (McCullagh, 1978). Low values of bifurcation ratio are attributed to the relatively

gentle slope (low relative relief) and comparatively hard rock formations that restricted the

branching of the streams and higher bifurcation ratio implies structural control.





Table 1: Morphometric parameter of sub-basin in Ghataprabha river

S

ub

-bas

in

id Micro

watershed P (km)

Drainage Order Number

(Km)

Rb

m I II III IV V VI

1 Kaporodha

Halla 48.32 134 36 9 3 1 183

2063.1

2 3.43

2 Hiranyakeshi 242.67 1849 472 112 27 4 1 2465 185.27 4.61

3 Ambaole Nadi 52.51 152 41 7 1 201 233.71 5.52

4 Chitra Nadi 44.84 245 56 17 2 1 321 329.48 4.54

5 Tamraparni

River I 62.05 330 84 24 3 1 442 329.48 4.61

6 Chandvad Nadi 20.19 70 17 2 1 90 60.01 4.87

7 Tamraparni

River II 25.48 116 29 8 2 1 156 124.60 3.41

8 Patne Nadi 25.12 81 26 8 3 1 119 85.93 3.01

9 Tamraparni

River III 104.15 532 140 33 6 1 712 606.10 4.89

10 Hanihol Nadi 42.05 194 53 16 5 1 269 206.91 3.79

11 Markandeya

River 182.34 688 193 53 9 1 944 913.88 5.52

12 Bellary Nala 117.29 510 141 35 8 2 1 697 733.28 3.60

13 Gadhar Nadi 74.14 386 102 27 7 3 1 526 416.23 3.35

14 Hire halla 114.58 757 183 32 7 2 1 982 802.74 3.99

15 Kanvi halla

Hirehall 25.04 13 4 2 1 20 35.57 2.42

16 Gavankop Halla 67.93 399 107 27 7 2 1 543 451.34 3.41

17 Hirehalla 45.97 110 26 3 1 140 146.96 5.30

18 Mallapur Halla 43.56 127 29 5 1 162 157.16 5.06

19 Yadawad Halla 95.02 467 109 21 6 1 604 609.08 4.74

20 44.36 106 28 8 1 143 136.83 5.10

21 Lokapur Halla 56.68 227 45 11 4 1 288 251.61 3.97

22 Midchi Halla 61.04 232 48 10 2 1 293 275.31 4.16

23 Hirehalla

Kaladgi 65.06 277 68 17 4 2 1 369 352.94 3.26

24 30.67 48 11 2 1 62 60.64 3.95

25 24.72 41 10 2 1 54 38.86 3.70

26 28.34 53 12 2 1 68 67.47 4.14

27 51.85 85 24 8 1 118 117.15 4.85

28 Kakke Halla 42.20 123 34 5 2 1 165 158.33 3.73

29 25.50 37 10 2 1 50 51.10 3.57

30 36.34 56 14 3 1 74 76.22 3.89

31 27.72 45 11 3 1 60 65.66 3.59

32 22.73 36 10 4 1 51 53.72 3.37

33 20.01 39 12 4 1 56 51.37 3.42

34 43.08 113 25 6 2 1 147 173.94 3.42

35 39.13 85 20 7 3 1 116 133.81 3.11

36 43.08 98 28 8 2 1 137 133.08 3.25

37 35.95 107 22 6 1 136 123.37 4.84

38 48.73 150 34 6 2 1 193 210.72 3.77

39 36.11 108 25 6 1 140 130.06 4.83

40 29.45 46 15 3 1 65 63.42 3.69

41 35.72 31 9 2 1 43 58.44 3.31

42 40.25 73 17 5 2 1 98 100.48 3.05

43 51.51 126 36 7 2 1 172 154.31 3.54

44 66.00 223 48 13 3 1 288 296.19 3.92





45 127.86 505 115 25 7 1 653 683.66 4.89

46 30.72 58 16 4 1 79 72.65 3.88

47 16.54 33 7 2 1 43 30.37 3.40

48 34.74 125 32 7 1 165 124.32 5.16

49 53.23 232 55 13 1 301 234.41 7.15

50 44.20 96 27 6 1 130 106.01 4.69

51 30.90 76 20 4 1 101 95.59 4.27

52 Ghataprabha 749.50

Notation : Basin Perimeter (P), Cumulative drainage order , Cumulative drainage length

(km) Mean bifurcation ratio (Rbm), Basin Relief (Bh), Ruggedness Number (Rn)

Table 2: Drainage morphometric parameters – Ghataprabha River

Sub-

basin

Area A

(km2)

Stream

Frequenc

y Fs

Dd Rt Rc C Di If Cc Lg

1 93.68 1.95 22.02 3.79 0.50 0.05 0.09 43.02 0.52 0.02

2 957.75 2.57 0.19 10.16 0.20 5.17 13.30 0.50 0.25 2.58

3 104.83 1.92 2.23 3.83 0.48 0.45 0.86 4.27 0.50 0.22

4 81.70 3.93 4.03 7.16 0.51 0.25 0.97 15.84 0.55 0.12

5 112.85 3.92 2.92 7.12 0.37 0.34 1.34 11.43 0.55 0.17

6 18.56 4.85 3.23 4.46 0.57 0.31 1.50 15.68 1.09 0.15

7 33.70 4.63 3.70 6.12 0.65 0.27 1.25 17.11 0.76 0.14

8 33.00 3.61 2.60 4.74 0.66 0.38 1.38 9.39 0.76 0.19

9 275.96 2.58 2.20 6.84 0.32 0.46 1.17 5.67 0.38 0.23

10 81.80 3.29 2.53 6.40 0.58 0.40 1.30 8.32 0.51 0.20

11 574.39 1.64 1.59 5.18 0.22 0.63 1.03 2.61 0.32 0.31

12 462.03 1.51 1.59 5.94 0.42 0.63 0.95 2.39 0.25 0.32

13 233.16 2.26 1.79 7.09 0.53 0.56 1.26 4.03 0.32 0.28

14 417.31 2.35 1.92 8.57 0.40 0.52 1.22 4.53 0.27 0.26

15 23.68 0.84 1.50 0.80 0.47 0.67 0.56 1.27 1.06 0.33

16 215.83 2.52 2.09 7.99 0.59 0.48 1.20 5.26 0.31 0.24

17 91.61 1.53 1.60 3.05 0.54 0.62 0.95 2.45 0.50 0.31

18 82.22 1.97 1.91 3.72 0.54 0.52 1.03 3.77 0.53 0.26

19 354.00 1.71 1.72 6.36 0.49 0.58 0.99 2.94 0.27 0.29

20 85.13 1.68 1.61 3.22 0.54 0.62 1.05 2.70 0.52 0.31

21 132.15 2.18 1.90 5.08 0.52 0.53 1.14 4.15 0.43 0.26

22 134.56 2.18 2.05 4.80 0.45 0.49 1.06 4.45 0.45 0.24

23 213.01 1.73 1.66 5.67 0.63 0.60 1.05 2.87 0.31 0.30

24 34.34 1.81 1.77 2.02 0.46 0.57 1.02 3.19 0.89 0.28

25 21.44 2.52 1.81 2.18 0.44 0.55 1.39 4.57 1.15 0.28

26 43.23 1.57 1.56 2.40 0.68 0.64 1.01 2.46 0.66 0.32

27 93.02 1.27 1.26 2.28 0.43 0.79 1.01 1.60 0.56 0.40

28 96.85 1.70 1.63 3.91 0.68 0.61 1.04 2.78 0.44 0.31

29 28.37 1.76 1.80 1.96 0.55 0.56 0.98 3.17 0.90 0.28

30 47.25 1.57 1.61 2.04 0.45 0.62 0.97 2.53 0.77 0.31

31 34.96 1.72 1.88 2.16 0.57 0.53 0.91 3.22 0.79 0.27

32 32.10 1.59 1.67 2.24 0.78 0.60 0.95 2.66 0.71 0.30

33 24.89 2.25 2.06 2.80 0.78 0.48 1.09 4.65 0.80 0.24

34 78.62 1.87 2.21 3.41 0.53 0.45 0.85 4.14 0.55 0.23

35 82.50 1.41 1.62 2.96 0.68 0.62 0.87 2.28 0.47 0.31

36 75.91 1.80 1.75 3.18 0.51 0.57 1.03 3.16 0.57 0.29

37 64.30 2.12 1.92 3.78 0.63 0.52 1.10 4.06 0.56 0.26

38 116.97 1.65 1.80 3.96 0.62 0.56 0.92 2.97 0.42 0.28

39 62.08 2.26 2.09 3.88 0.60 0.48 1.08 4.72 0.58 0.24

40 44.81 1.45 1.42 2.21 0.65 0.71 1.02 2.05 0.66 0.35

41 64.87 0.66 0.90 1.20 0.64 1.11 0.74 0.60 0.55 0.55





42 74.59 1.31 1.35 2.43 0.58 0.74 0.98 1.77 0.54 0.37

43 99.39 1.73 1.55 3.34 0.47 0.64 1.11 2.69 0.52 0.32

44 163.89 1.76 1.81 4.36 0.47 0.55 0.97 3.18 0.40 0.28

45 440.04 1.48 1.55 5.11 0.34 0.64 0.96 2.31 0.29 0.32

46 40.68 1.94 1.79 2.57 0.54 0.56 1.09 3.47 0.76 0.28

47 13.14 3.27 2.31 2.60 0.60 0.43 1.42 7.57 1.26 0.22

48 50.80 3.25 2.45 4.75 0.53 0.41 1.33 7.95 0.68 0.20

49 95.69 3.15 2.45 5.65 0.42 0.41 1.28 7.71 0.56 0.20

50 55.61 2.34 1.91 2.94 0.36 0.52 1.23 4.46 0.79 0.26

51 44.01 2.29 2.17 3.27 0.58 0.46 1.06 4.98 0.70 0.23

52

Notation ; A - Area, Fs - Stream Frequency, Dd - Drainage Density , Rt - Texture Ratio , Ff- Form

Factor , Rc Circularity ratio , Re -Elongation Ratio ,

C - Constant of Channel Maintenance , Di - Drainage Intensity , If -Infiltration Number, Lg -

Length of Overland Flow

5.2 Areal parameters

Elongation ratio (Re) is the ratio of the diameter of a circle (D) of the same area as that of the

basin to the maximum length of the basin. Values near to 1.0 are typical of regions of very

low relief (Strahler, 1964). Circularity ratio (Rc) describes the nature of the basin. Basin

shape may be indexed by simple dimensionless ratios of the basic measurements of area,

perimeter and length. A perfectly circular basin has form factor 0.785. High “circularity

ratio” reflects rapid discharge from the basin and basins of low circularity ratio have high

channel storage and low sediment yield–delivery ratio. Low circularity ratio implies low

relief for the sub-basin and high circularity ratio reflects rapid discharge from the basin and

basins of low circularity ratio have high channel storage and low sediment yield–delivery

ratio (Singh, 1992). Smaller the value of form factor, more elongated will be the basin. Form

factor ratio (Ff) is the quantitative expression of drainage basin-outline. The circular shape

implies sharp peak flows that are difficult to manage than that of the elongated basin. A

perfectly circular basin has form factor 0.785 and smaller the value of form factor, more

elongated will be the basin. Stream frequency (Fs) is the ratio of total number of streams (Nt)

in a basin to the basin area. It is a measure of the closeness of the drainage. High drainage

frequency means indicate more surface Run off and low drainage frequency means more

percolation and hence has groundwater potential (Sreedevi et al., 2009), used as an indication

of hydrological characteristics of the basin for watershed management. As mean annual

runoff is directly related to total stream frequency and total basin area, and inversely related

to drainage density and runoff characteristics is reflected in hydrographs, the same can be

used to understand micro watershed prioritization for watershed management.

Drainage density (Dd) is the total length of streams in a catchment per unit area, is a measure

of the wetness of the basin. It is used for hydrological analysis, and for comparing the

behavior of the various catchments. It characterizes the catchments components such as soil,

lithology, land-use, slope, climate, vegetation and the catchments response to rainfall. Figure

5 shows the drainage density distribution of Ghataprabha River Higher drainage density is

found where impermeable rocks are found and that implies rapid runoff, which increases the

peak of the hydrograph. It varies between 22.02 and 0.19. Drainage density is quite high in

the basin 1 and 4 depicting the less permeable nature of material present in the area and high

runoff and greater slope and basin 41 and 2 has minimum drainage density. The inverse of

drainage density is termed as “constant of channel maintenance”. It depends on the basin

relative relief, lithology, climate, etc and decreases with increasing erodibility (Schumm,

1956). It varies between 0.05 and 3.17. Higher values suggest more area is required to





produce surface flow which implies that part of water may get lost by evaporation,

percolation etc.; lower value indicates less chances of percolation/infiltration and hence more

surface runoff.

5.3 Relief parameters

The relief parameter helps in understanding the landscape development and erosion

characteristics of a basin. If the basin relief is exposed up of steep slope, then this will lead to

faster surface runoff resulting less infiltration to the ground. Basin relief and Ruggedness

number have counted for the morphometric analysis. The basin relief is measured with the

help of SRTM (30m) data. Bain relief is the difference from highest elevation to lowest

elevation. Ruggedness number tells about how an area is susceptible to erosional activities.

Higher the Ruggedness number greater is the proneness to erosion. Dissection index is the

ratio between the relative relief and absolute relief of the basin which always varies between

zero (complete absence of dissection) and one (extreme case, vertical cliff at sea shore).

Landscape dissection is one of the influencing factors of drainage density (Montgomery and

Dietrich, 1994).

Figure 5 : Distribution of drainage density

Semi-arid regions receive sporadic events of rainfall. It could be harvested for immediately

drinking water purposes. It is pertinent to identify sub-basins that do not have any storage

facilities (including tanks/reservoirs). One among the strategies that are used in the river

basin management is to identify potential sub- basins for small or medium storage





facilities(mostly for drinking water and rain fed agriculture support), irrespective of existing

functional or non-functional (degraded ones), whose storage performance can be improved.

It is assumed that there is no constraint on sediment yield, in addition to surface run-off,

direct rainfall could be harvested, by the proposed storages, constructed, maintained and

managed by the people from the villages for their drinking water purposes. Areal and linear

morphometric parameters derived for individual sub-basins were grouped into five categories

representing the suitability – 1 (minimum) and 5 (maximum).

Table 3: Significance of parameters in Sub-basin prioritization for surface water storage

development

Class Tanks A Elevation mts

(MSL) Fs Dd Rf C Lg If

1 Nil 0-50 >900 >4 >4 < 2 <0.1 <0.1 > 10

2 1 – 5 50-100 700-900 3-4 3-4 2-4 0.1-

0.4

0.1-

0.2

5-10

3 5 – 10 100-

300

600-700 2-3 2-3 4-6 0.4-

0.6

0.2-

0.3

3-5

4 10 –30 300-

900

500-600 1-2 1-2 6-8 0.6-

1.0

0.3-

0.6

1-3

5 >30 >900 <500 <1 <1 > 8 > 1 >1 <1

The cumulative suitability of the sub-basin having minimum or no tanks were assessed in

terms of area, drainage frequency and density, texture, infiltration, length of flow and

elevation and prioritized (Table 3). It is essential to have one (minimum) storage facility in

sub-basins to meet the demands. There are 15 sub-basins where there is no tanks, followed by

28,3,3 and 2 sub-basins where in number of tanks available within the basin 1-5, 5-10, 10-30

and >30 tanks respectively. The preferred need based basins are also highlighted. Information

on population and agriculture lands within the sub-basin could further improve the precision

of this approach.

5.4 Conclusion

SRTM data derived elevations, slope, substantiated with the topographic sheet information

were integrated with the use of GIS. Terrain and Morphometric parameters were analyzed on

sub-basin level in prioritizing them for development of surface water storage infrastructure.

Suitability of the parameters was derived from the cumulative contribution of the derived

parameters.

1. 15 and 28 sub-basins that do not have tanks and less than 3 tanks respectively, within

their periphery. Population and agriculture demand information could further used for

prioritization.

2. Micro-level information on soil, agriculture / forest cover and potential users

(population and Agriculture) need to be analyzed, in improving the precision of this

method. In catchment areas, site based investigation is recommended.

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to express the acknowledgement for the help, support and encouragement

received from Head, Center of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of

Technology, Bombay.





6. References

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