Watershed Prioritisation for Soil and Water Conservation of Bichhiya River Basin, Central India Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Watershed prioritization has become increasingly important in watershed management, providing many benefits such as soil conservation, groundwater development, and the implementation of artificial recharge schemes. Morphometric analysis is often used to determine watershed priority. This study focuses on the morphometric analysis of the Bichhiya River Sub-basin, Central India to evaluate and understand its hydrological significance. The prioritized watershed is based on morphometric parameters using the Geographic Information System and principal component analysis techniques. ASTER DEM with a 30 meters spatial resolution is used for morphometric analysis as well as the creation of drainage maps. Various parameters, such as linear, areal, as well as relief aspects, are analysed for each sub-watershed. When groundwater and pertinent data sets are insufficient, morphometric analysis is an appropriate technique for conservation of soil and water. The status of each sub-watershed is determined based on these relationships to calculate the final ranking. PCAtechnique is employed to delineate and analyse morphometric characteristics which may be useful for the conservation of soil and water. Ranks were given to watersheds based on calculated morphometric parameters in terms of soil erosion potential. PCAminimizes the dimensionality of the input data set. The drainage order is 1 to 6, and are divided into six sub-watersheds, labelled sub-watershed I to VI. These sub-watersheds are categorized in various ranks from 1 to 6 based on morphometric analysis using PCA Technique. First rank is given to SW-III, while SW-VI is ranked sixth. So, SW-III should be given high priority for soil and water conservation measures. Studies on the morphometry of the Bichhiya River Sub-basin focused on prioritizing watersheds and correlating morphometric characteristics, highlighting high-priority areas due to significant erosion. The study may be extremely useful for academicians and planners for management of soil conservation, water conservation and groundwater resource development of the area. Keywords: GIS, DEM, Morphometric analysis, Bichhiya River Sub-basin, Principal Component Analysis, Priority Zone