Some Important principles of watershed management

1. Some Important principles of watershed management • 1.   Utilising the land according to its capability. • 2.   Putting adequate vegetal cover on the soil during the rainy season. • 3.    Conserving as much rain water as possible at the place where it falls.eg: ????????? • 4. Drawing out excess water with a safe velocity and diverting it to storage ponds and store it for future use. • 5.  Avoiding gully formation and putting checks at suitable intervals to control soil erosion and recharge ground water. • 6.Increasing cropping intensity through intercropping and sequence cropping.

2. 7. Safe utilization of marginal lands through alternate land use system. • 8.  Ensuring sustainability of the eco-systems befitting the man-animal plant –land-water-complex over the years. • 9.  Maximising the combined income from the inter related and dynamic interactions between resources (eg crop-livestock-tree-labour –complex.) • 10. Maximising productivity per unit area, per unit time and per unit of water. • From http://agri.ap.nic.in/principles.html

3. Integrate resource management by: -linking water quality and quantity -management of other resources, -recognizing hydrological, ecological, social and institutional systems, -recognizing the importance of watershed and aquifer boundaries. • Water conservation and the protection of water quality: -recognizing the value and limits of water resources, -the cost of providing water, -acknowledging consumptive and non-consumptive values eg? -balancing education, market forces and regulatory systems. • Resolve water management issues by multi stakeholder consultation, monitoring, researching, negotiating for consensus, and ensuring accountability through open communication, education and public access to information.

4. Watershed Planning • A planning process allows people to decide as a group how, to move from an unacceptable present to a desirable future. • Planning, however, is not an end product. It is an on-going, dynamic process that must be responsive and adaptive to changing conditions, and the current social attitude or community vision. • Watershed Planning is planning for the good management of watersheds. • It provides a means by which decisions are coordinated among responsible government and private agencies and by which LU and resource management conflicts and issues are resolved. • As such, watershed planning combines scientific and technical information with cultural and societal values. It therefore requires detailed information about the particular watershed components, processes and other related information. .

5. Watershed planning: Procedures • planning attempts to apply reason to solve a specific problem and identify steps to be taken to reach a specific goal. • when dealing with complicated social, environmental or economic problems, the steps that will be followed in developing a plan are often formal, and will usually include some or all of the following activities: • ·

6. there is no exact definition of a “watershed approach” to planning, rather it is a social construct agreed upon by people living in that watershed i.e, process is not ridgid or cast in stone • Each example of watershed planning will look quite different, and it is crucial that watershed advocates be involved to push for sustainable watershed management

7. Involve key decision makers and partners –Who should be included to make the plan work? • Identify or define the problem to be solved–If a problem is defined too narrowly, you may overlook innovative solutions. • Model or analyze the situation/problem –It is important to understand the causes of the problem, as well as dynamics which might help solve it. • Determine potential solutions, examining resource requirements, implementation, feedback procedures, etc. • Evaluate potential solutions, in terms of technical feasibility, cost effectiveness, probable effects, political acceptability, etc. • Make a decision and agree. • Implement the decision. • Monitoring and evaluation: Evaluate the success of the plan and its implementation. Modify as required

8. Watershed Planning Information • Good planning depends on good information. • Successful planning processes include steps to gathering and assesssing information, • ensuring access to experts and other advisers (stakeholders) Watershed Inventories • it is impossible to identify all the information a given planning process requires, therefore take a “watershed inventory” as an essential first step in developing a watershed plan. • provide information on the physical, chemical and biological features and processes that affect water and its movement is • This type of information is necessary for an understanding of the watershed the planning process is intended to manage and brings information of the various aspects of the watershed to one place: 

9. Physical features and landforms • - Watershed planners need to understand bedrock and surface geology. The nature of the underlying rock determines the character of the overlying soils and influences water movement through soils. • The chemical properties of the rock are important through processes of weathering, e Geologic Survey of Canadafor more information.

10. Climate • - incl temperature, wind speed and direction, precipitation, influences water resources and biological processes in a watershed. • Rainfall intensity and duration. Wind conditions may affect land and water processes, particularly ET and wind erosion. MET office • Soils, Infiltration, and Runoff – The ability of soil to transport water depends on thesize and condition of channels through the porous media. Function of the soil texture, structure and particle aggregation

11. Streamflow - rate of flow of water per unit time (e.g., m3/second). • GW - Groundwater may be a source of surface water or may be fed by surface water., may be an important source for human water use, through wells (most rural areas). An “aquifer” is an underground geological area which collects groundwater. Aquifers and groundwater flows can be measured in a variety of ways, Darcy’s • Water Quality - Almost all water users are affected by WQ. Mineral deposits in the watershed, drainage characteristics of the soil, physical processes (e.g., erosion), and biological processes, human use of water influence WQ. • Acceptable WQ levels are dictated by the use for thatwater. • measured in a variety of ways, incl measuring physical biological or chemical parameters of the water

12. Plant and Animal Species – An inventory should determine the diversity of plant and animal species present in a watershed, est numbers of each species, and investigate the interrelationship between the species and their environment. Also identify endangered or threatened.species • Land Use –existing and potential use by humans may change the landscape through resource extraction, housing, transportation and other means, resulting in changes to the features of the watershed. desired uses of the watershed may help a community to determine what values it wants to protect through watershed planning. When compiling a current land use inventory, check with your local government planning and zoning departments, topographic or road maps, agricultural extension professionals, and satellite or high altitude aerial photography

13. Social and Economic Systems - are the human systems or infrastructure that overlay the natural and built environment. These systems affect people’s attitudes and goals and the community support that is central to the implementation of watershed management. • All of these types of information can, and should, help inform watershed planning. • Experts While it is sometimes possible to get a subjective sense of some of the above features, measuring and documenting the features of watershed in a way that is credible and will sway planners can be difficult. • In some cases you may be able to enlist volunteers with the expertise. In other cases, experts may be willing to work at a discounted rate or stake-holders with deep pockets will agree to pay for the development of a watershed inventory or other information gathering. • Take note of IKS in gathering information on the features of the watershed. This knowledge can be documented and used in developing a watershed inventory.