Application of web enabled open source geospatial technologies in generation of water resource development plan

Sustainable planning and management of water resources is necessary, as water is essential for food security, industrial production and sustaining ecosystems as well as socio-development of a country. Geospatial technologies are successfully employed in the field of hydrology for planning and management. However, the implementation of these technologies is restricted because of non-availability of necessary data, processing knowledge as well as software and hardware infrastructures in time. Hence, in this study, a web enabled customised geographic information system (GIS) is developed using open source geospatial tools to generate water resource development (WRD) plans for non-GIS professionals. The application was demonstrated by considering the spatial layers pertaining to three districts of Jharkhand state, India. The tool takes the area of interest as an input from the user and analyses the data to produce WRD action plans. Plans include identifying suitable zones for artificial recharge that makes watershed management simpler and more effective.