Evaluation of Morphometric Parameter for Prioritization of Kantori Nala Milli Watershed

Abstract

Watershed morphological and hydrological properties can be derived from the drainage morphometric parameter. Morphometric analysis with the help of remote sensing and GIS techniques is considered to be the most useful approach for prioritization of watersheds. The main aim of the study is to evaluate the morphometric parameters of Kantori nala milli watershed located at Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh state, India. This study outlines the significance of digital elevation model for assessment of drainage pattern and extraction of relative parameters. Milli watershed was automatically delineated and divided into eleven micro watersheds MWS 1 to MWS 11 on the basis of topography from the Depression less Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 10 m resolution prepared by Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation technique. Stream order in study area milli watershed ranges from one to two. Each parameter has been assigned their ranks according to their value. Thereafter, an average value of the rank score for each of the micro watershed is calculated. The micro watershed with the lowest compound factor (Cp) was given the highest prioritized rank out of the group of micro watersheds, and vice versa. The result from the priority ranking of morphometric analysis shows that MWS 7 is having high priority while MWS 8 is having low priority. Micro watersheds MWS 9 and MWS 11 falls under same priority i.e. 6 and also micro watersheds MWS 2 and MWS 4 falls under same priority i.e. 7. To control soil erosion, various land rehabilitation programmes and bioengineering methods should be adopted on the micro watershed of high priority categories, followed by medium and low priority categories.