Sustainable Management of Watershed Areas

A geographical area of land that drains or “sheds” rainfall and snowmelt into a specific waterbody is called watershed. Any human action aimed at ensuring the sustainable use of watershed resources without adversely affecting land and water bases is termed as watershed management. Each and every one of us live in a unique watershed, with interrelated natural processes that impact our lives. The changing climate scenario and scanty water resources compel us to rethink about the approaches towards uniform distribution of clean drinking water and also supply of irrigation water for agricultural practices emphasising on collection of runoff water (water harvesting), designing water conservation structures like bunds, water ways, diversion works and implementing approaches to curb different means of water losses. The understanding of land capability is equally important to increase the land use efficiency and productivity of a watershed for the generation of a highly productive, resource-efficient and sustainable watershed structure.