Integrated Watershed Management | Agriculture Optional Notes for UPSC PDF Download

What is a Watershed?

• A watershed is essentially the geographic area where water flows over the land and eventually drains into a common body of water, which could be a stream, river, lake, or even an ocean.
• The boundary of a watershed follows the highest points around the stream channels and converges at the lowest point of land where water exits the watershed, typically referred to as the waterway's mouth.
• A watershed can be described as a region of land and water enclosed by a drainage divide.
• Within a watershed, rain and stormwater runoff accumulate and then exit through a single outlet into a larger river or lake. The primary source of water for a watershed is rainfall and stormwater runoff.
• All activities and alterations made to the land within a watershed, including mining, agriculture, construction of roads, urban development, and other human actions, have an impact on the quantity and quality of stormwater in the area.
• For effective planning and execution, it is ideal for a watershed region to be in the range of 1,000 to 2,500 hectares. Within this size range, a well-balanced strategy can be developed and put into action within two to three years.

What is Watershed Management?

• Watershed management aims to combat land degradation and offers a comprehensive approach to maximize land productivity.
• It involves the prudent utilization of land and water resources to achieve sustained and optimal production while minimizing the impact on natural resources.
• By employing careful planning and judgment, it is possible to control the flow of rainwater down slopes, ensuring optimal infiltration and percolation to address soil erosion issues.
• Various techniques can be utilized, including reducing the erosive impact of rainfall, controlling its speed at different points, conducting operations along contour lines, and diverting excess water to alleviate pressure.
• Watershed management is the practice of developing and implementing plans, programs, and projects to enhance watershed functions that affect the plant, animal, and human communities within the watershed's boundaries.
• It also involves a thorough examination of the pertinent characteristics of a watershed to ensure the sustainable distribution of its resources.
• Managing water supply, water quality, drainage, stormwater runoff, water rights, and overall planning and utilization of watershed resources are essential components of watershed management.
• Watershed management is the most effective approach to safeguard resources for future use and contributes to enhancing resource quality.
• Watershed management stands as the optimal method for responsible resource management.

Watershed Management - Principles

• Adhering to land use classifications is a fundamental principle of watershed management, ensuring that land is utilized in harmony with its potential.
• Maximizing the retention of rainfall at the location where it falls is a key strategy in watershed management.
• Efficiently regulating the removal of excess water at a safe rate and diverting it to storage facilities, such as farm tanks or ponds, for future utilization, is another crucial principle.
• To mitigate soil erosion, capture rainwater, and replenish groundwater, it is essential to prevent the formation of gullies and construct check dams in appropriate locations.
• Identifying the most suitable cropping system for the watershed is a pivotal aspect of watershed management.
• Striving to achieve the highest possible productivity per unit of area, time, and water is a central objective within watershed management practices.

Watershed Management - Objectives

• The primary objectives of watershed management include soil conservation, efficient rainwater utilization, and the creation of new water resources alongside groundwater replenishment.
• Promoting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and ensuring stable agricultural yields through suitable crop management and cropping systems is a key aim.
• Extending land utilization beyond arable areas through horticulture, grazing land development, and afforestation based on the land's potential is an additional goal.
• Enhancing people's incomes by encouraging alternative livelihoods is a fundamental objective.
• Rebalancing the ecosystem is a central target within watershed management.
• Improving cropping intensity and the land equivalent ratio through intercropping and sequence cropping is another critical focus.
• Safely utilizing marginal and wastelands through alternative land-use practices such as agroforestry is an essential element of watershed management.
• Preserving the ecology that sustains the interconnected systems of humans, animals, plants, and water within the watershed is of paramount importance.
• Reducing risks and stabilizing overall income during extreme weather conditions is a significant objective.
• Enhancing the infrastructure for storage, transportation, and marketing facilities is a crucial part of watershed management efforts.

Watershed Management - Planning

• The initial step in comprehensive watershed management planning involves the acquisition of adequate maps through remote sensing techniques.
• Remote sensing technology facilitates the characterization of natural resources, encompassing land, water, vegetation, and their interconnected dynamics.
• Satellite imagery not only enables the identification of natural resources but also allows for the estimation of crucial factors such as the extent of significant crops, crop yields, the prevalence of pests and diseases, and the potential presence of drought.
• Utilizing satellite photography, the positions of structures like check dams and farm ponds can be pinpointed.
• Satellite images serve the purpose of determining patterns in the distribution of resources and conducting status assessments. Subsequently, detailed planning for a variety of activities is undertaken.
• Following the status assessments, a comprehensive set of strategies is developed and implemented, including mechanical, agronomical, agroecological, and forestry methods aimed at conserving both soil and rainwater.

Watershed Management - Significance

• Pollution Control: Watershed management plays a crucial role in reducing pollution in water bodies caused by runoff from rainfall or snowmelt. This helps in preserving the natural resources, particularly water, within the watershed.
• Identification and Regulation of Ecologically Harmful Activities: All activities taking place within a watershed have an impact on its natural resources. Watershed management planning thoroughly identifies these activities and offers recommendations for their effective management to mitigate their adverse effects.
• Strengthening Stakeholder Collaboration: Watershed management planning fosters collaboration among all stakeholders involved in the watershed, a critical aspect for efficient management of land and water resources.
• Resource Allocation in Resource-Scarce Situations: During periods of limited resources, watershed management planning serves as a valuable tool for prioritizing the implementation of management plans.
• Inclusive and Sustainable Growth: Watershed management is essential for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. It has the potential to increase water availability, diversify crop and farming systems, boost agricultural production, and provide additional income sources for rural communities, especially in regions prone to drought.
• Water Quality Improvement: Rainwater collected directly is often contaminated and unusable. Watershed management helps enhance water quality, making it suitable for various purposes, including household, agricultural, and industrial use.
• Enhanced Agricultural Productivity: Watershed management contributes to increased agricultural productivity by offering diverse cropping systems, thereby providing farmers with more options and potential for higher income. It is particularly beneficial in drought-prone areas, where it allows land to utilize rainwater from other regions, supporting farmers in their livelihoods.
• Economic Growth: Utilizing previously unused forest land for various purposes, watershed management generates livelihoods, income, and job opportunities, contributing to the country's economic growth.

Watershed Management - Challenges

• Issues with Project Implementation: The underperformance of watershed management initiatives can be attributed to various factors. These include using outdated methods, inadequate project planning, insufficient and unsustainable financial resources, very short project durations, and a lack of understanding about the connections between upland and lowland areas.
• Lack of Legal Framework: Despite many countries having comprehensive environmental regulations, watershed management policies are often neglected. The main challenges in implementing sustainable watershed management programs stem from the absence or inadequacy of national policies, strategies, and action plans.
• Weak Institutional Foundation: After the conclusion of these programs, institutions focused on watershed management are at risk of collapsing due to inadequate support. Furthermore, self-help groups are not effectively integrated into watershed programs. The strength of the institutional base significantly affects the sustainability of natural resources, the community's ability to diversify, and its access to support from various programs.
• Exclusion of Reserved Forest Lands: Watershed development programs have yet to address the allocation of forest produce entitlements and the inclusion of reserved forest lands. A major challenge lies in achieving practical agreement between the departments of rural development and forestry.

Watershed Management in India

• The Department of Agriculture's All India Soil and Land Use Survey Organization has established a national system for Watershed Delineation and Codification.
• Watersheds have been classified into four categories based on their size: Basins, Catchments, Sub-catchments, and Watersheds.
• In India, there are 3200 watersheds, 112 catchments, 35 rivers, and 500 sub-catchments.
• For planning and development purposes, the 3200 watersheds have been categorized into three groups according to their size:
  • Sub-watersheds (ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 hectares)
  • Milli-Watershed (ranging from 1000 to 10,000 hectares)
  • Micro-Watershed (ranging from 100 to 1000 hectares)
  • Mini-Watershed (ranging from 1 to 100 hectares)

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)

• The Ministry of Rural Development launched the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) in the year 2009-10 with the goal of covering 55 million hectares of rain-fed land by 2027.
• Since 2009-10, the Department of Land Resources has been overseeing the implementation of IWMP, consolidating three area development programs: the Desert Development Programme (DDP), the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), and the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP).
• After China's program, India's IWMP stands as the world's second-largest watershed initiative.
• The primary objectives of IWMP include the rehabilitation, preservation, and enhancement of depleted natural resources like soil, vegetation, and water; the prevention of soil erosion; the capture of rainwater and recharging of groundwater levels; the improvement of crop productivity; the introduction of multi-cropping and a variety of agro-based activities; the promotion of sustainable livelihoods; and the augmentation of household incomes.
• Through watershed management activities focused on utilizing, safeguarding, and enhancing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetation, and water, the program aims to reestablish ecological equilibrium.
• This initiative is being executed in all states across the country, with 90% of the funding provided by the central government and 10% by the state governments.
• Gram Panchayats are actively engaged in the IWMP, playing crucial roles at the village and watershed levels to ensure transparency and the active participation of the people.

Watershed Management - Related Initiatives

• The Haryali Watershed Development Project, supported by the Central Government, is focused on enabling rural communities to conserve water for various purposes, including drinking, irrigation, fisheries, and afforestation. This project is carried out with the active involvement of Gram Panchayats.
• In Andhra Pradesh, the "Neeru-Meeru" (Water and You) program, along with the "Arvary Pani Sansad" initiative in Alwar, Rajasthan, have initiated the construction of diverse water-harvesting structures such as percolation tanks, dug-out ponds (Jihad), check dams, etc., with the participation of the public.
• In Tamil Nadu, there is a mandate that residential buildings must incorporate water harvesting systems. Construction of water harvesting structures is a prerequisite for any building in the state.

Conclusion

Watersheds hold importance due to their role in directing surface water features and stormwater runoff to other bodies of water. To effectively protect and restore water quality, it's vital to take into account the impact on downstream areas. Encouraging public participation in these practices primarily relies on providing accurate information and raising awareness. Such support from the community can enhance the effectiveness and benefits of these management strategies. Strengthening local partnerships and collaborations between the government and the public is essential for increasing awareness and achieving these goals.