Planning of Conservation Measures for Watershed Management and Development by using Geospatial Technology – A Case study of Patur Watershed in Akola District of Maharashtra

Planning of conservation measures for watershed management and development is the method of preparing and implementing plans in different projects to maintain and raise watershed management functions which otherwise affect the plants, animal and human communities inside watershed boundary. The geospatial technologies like remote sensing and GIS, GPS are useful for fast and cost effective study of different applications with accuracy in planning. It also gives a good quality perspective for understanding the problems and therefore useful for planners for better result for sustainable water resource development and management. The main focus of the study is to develop the land and water resource development plan and environmental management for groundwater recharge development using Geospatial technology in Patur watershed which is situated in Akola district of Maharashtra. In this study various types of thematic maps have been generated from satellite images using remote sensing and GIS technology. These thematic maps were prepared from different types of data sets like IRS- LISS-III multispectral images, SRTM data with 30 m resolution and Survey of India Toposheet. The thematic maps for GIS analysis were created by image processing of the raw data using geospatial technology. A particular importance is laid on the planning of conservation measures for land and water resources management plan mainly based on the land use/ land cover, geology, geomorphology and slope of the Patur watershed area. The planning conservation activity should be important for ecological development and management at the forest area in the Patur watershed. From the final output of these study different conservation measures/structures like recharge wells, farm ponds, CNB, gully plug, CCT and other soil and water conservation structures have been suggested for groundwater recharge development, environmental management and to control soil erosion from the watershed area with reference to remote sensing and GIS data compared with ground truth.