Envis Madhya Pradesh
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ENVIS MADHYA PRADESH VOLUME 6 NEWS LETTER January – March 2008 Issue 1 0 PREFAC E Everybody knows the drought of Bundelkhand, water table goes down continuously. Ponds dried up, flows of rivers Sunar, Vyarama, Ken are stop at many places in Panna district. In these conditions how the crops will be grown? In lack of irrigation source s. Even in proper Pawai in Panna district the yield of crop wheat of have been decreased only due to lack of irrigation. Animals are sucking water from the mud. This problem is not limits only up to the rural areas but can be seen in the urban areas. In Sa ger Inside the newsletter………………. Rajghat Pariyojana has been dried up those supplies the water to whole Sager city .So municipal supplies the water in alternate days. Also the same problem has been facing Bhopal city. Here also the municipal water supply goes by one day later. Have you ever think in about this problem? How we can remediate it? Watershed can be the very good step in removal of all these problems. Not only the governmental • OVERVIEW OF THE WATERSHED steps are sufficient to remediate such type of problems. Even every people is importan t or should do work in this field as every drop has its own importance to fill the ocean so • MODERN MANAGEMENT to eradicate this problem we should collect the every drop which has fallen on the earth • RIVERS OF MADHYA PRADESH and conserve not left to flow it into the river. It can be done by making t he rain water reserve tank, Soaking pits, bunding of farms, removing silt from old ponds and by so • RIVERS BASINS OF MADHYA many ways. This complete the water shed management as nature collects the water PRADESH and makes springs and rivers. • CATCHMENTS AREAS OF MADHYA PRADESH Dr. Rakesh Dubey, ENVIS Coordinator 1 WHAT IS WATERSHED The term watershed refers to the geographic boundaries of a particular water body, its ecosystem and the land that drains to it. A watershed also inc ludes groundwater aquifers that discharge to and receive discharge from streams, wetlands, ponds, and lakes. Large watersheds are sometimes referred to as river basins. Everyone lives in a watershed. You and everyone in your watershed are part of the watershed community. The animals, birds, and fish are too. You influence what happens in your watershed, good or bad, by how you treat the natural resources, the soil, water, air, plants, and animals. What happens in your small watershed also affects the larger watershed downstream. Types of Watershed Watersheds could be classified into a number of groups depending upon the mode of classification. The common modes of categorization are the size, drainage, shape and land use pattern. The categorization could also based on the size of the stream or river, the point of interception of the stream or the river and the drainage density and its distribution. The All India Soil and Land Use Surveys (AIS&LUS) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, has developed a system for watershed delineation like water resource region, basin, catchment, sub-catchment, and watershed. The usually accepted five levels of watershed delineation based on geographical area of the watershed are the following; 1) Macro watershed (> 50,000 Hect) 2) Sub-watershed (10,000 to 50,000 Hect) 3) Milli-watershed (1000 to10000 Hect) 4) Micro watershed (100 to 1000 Hect) 5) Mini watershed (1-100 Hect) A watershed could be described as fan shaped (near circular) or fen shaped (elongated). Hydrolo gically the shape of the watershed is important because it controls the time taken for the runoff to concentrate at the outlet. Watersheds may also be categorized as hill or flat watersheds, humid or arid watersheds, red soil watershed or black soil waters hed based on criteria like soil, slope, climate etc. Depending on the land use pattern watershed could again be classified as highland watersheds, tribal settlements and watersheds in areas of settled cultivation. 2 MODERN WATERSHED MANAGEMENT OF “MULTIPLE WATERSHEDS” Natural Watersheds Urban Watersheds • Many streams drain into a single river basin • Water imported to artificial storage basins (reservoirs) • Surface water flow determined by hydrology, geography (rainfall, contour vegetation) • Natural drainage areas paved, streams channelized and streambeds diverted, blocked and covered, • Groundwater flow determined by hydrogeology levees contain flood waters (aquifers, soils) • Aquifers over drafted, depth to ground water • Unrestrained streams flood periodically, deposit increases sediment • Pollutants discharged to creeks and stream By planning across the entire watershed and preventing pollution before it occurs, modern watershed management provides water and wastewater treatment at lowest cost and least environmental impact. Elements of Watershed Why Plan Based on Based Decision Making Watershed? Sustainable Development Recognition of Connections and Links Environmental Protection o “We All Live Downstream” o Minimized Impacts Correction of Past Mistakes o Restoration Prevention of Downstream Pollution o Protection of Diversity of Life Forms Minimization of Flooding Impacts Land Use Planning “As if Nature Mattered” Minimization of Drought Effects Integrated Water Resources Planning Considers Conservation of Water and Energy o Water Supply and Distribution Resources o Wastewater Collection and Treatment o Flood Control and Water Storage o Water Conservation, Recycling and Reuse 3 RIVERS OF MADHYA PRADESH Madhya Pradesh repres ents great river basins and the watershed of a number of rivers. Catchments of many rivers of India lie in Madhya Pradesh. The Narmada (originating from Amarkantak) and Tapti (originating from Multai of Betul District ) rivers and their basins divide the state in two, with the northern part draining largely into the Ganga basin and the southern part into the Godavari and Mahanadi systems. The Vindhyas form the southern boundary of the Ganga basin, with the western part of the Ganga basin draining into the Yamuna and the eastern part directly into the Ganga itself. All the rivers, which drain into the Ganga, flow from south to north, with the Chambal, Sipra, Kali Sind, Parbati, Kuno, Sind, Betwa, Dhasan and Ken rivers being the main tributaries of the Yamuna. The land drained by these rivers is agriculturally rich, with the natural vegetation largely consisting of grass and dry deciduous forest types, largely thorny. The eastern part of the Ganga basin consists of the Son, the Tons and the Rihand Rivers, with the Son being the major tributary. This is also the ju nction point of the Satpura and the Vindhya ranges, with the Maikal and Kaimur Hills being the fulcrum. The forests here are m uch richer than the thorn forests of the northwestern part of Madhya Pradesh. The Son is of great significance in that it is the largest tributary going into the Ganga on the south bank and arising out of the hills of Madhya Pradesh rather than from the Himalayas . This river and its tributaries contribute the bulk of the monsoon flow into Ganga, because the north bank tributaries are all snow fed. The Bansagar Dam on Sone River The major tributary of the Ganga, the Son, arises in one of the most important watersheds in India, the Maikal hills around Amarkantak . Three of t he great rivers of India, Narmada, Mahanadi and Son, are given birth to by these hills. This is also one of the few ranges in the State having a north south configuration. The Mahanadi itself, together with its tributaries such as Hasdeo, Mand and Kharun flows southeast into Orissa and converts that State into a green rice bowl. The upper Mahanadi catchment contains some of the finest forests in the State, ranging from mixed deciduous to teak, bamboo and Sal. Just as the Mahanadi flows east from the Maikal hills and the Son flows north, the mighty Narmada charts a westerly course from these very hills. The Narmada flows through a rift va lley, with the Vindhyas marching along its northern bank and the Satpuras along the southern. Its tributaries include the Banjar, the Tawa, the Machna, the Denwa and the Sonbhardra rivers. Taken in combination with its parallel sister river, the Tapti , which also flows through a rift valley, the Narmada - Tapti systems carry and enormous volume of water and provide drainage for almost a quarter of the land area of Madhya Pradesh. The Satpuras , in the Gawilgarh and Mahadeo Hills, also contain a watershed, which is south facing. The Indrawati , the Wainganga , the Wardha , the Pench, the Kanhan and Penganga rivers, discharge an enormous volume of water into the Godavari system. The Godavari is the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh, but the water which feeds it is a gift of the Central India watershed. Some of the finest sub-tropical, semi moist forests in India are to be found in the Godavari basin, mainly in the valley of the Indrawati. There are very few virgin forests left in the country, but very fine examples of these are to be found in Bastar area along the Indrawati and in the Kanger valley in Chhattisgarh. 4 RIVER BASINS IN MADHYA PRADESH Madhya Pradesh as ten major rivers originate from the State. As Madhya Pradesh is located in the center of India , most of the rivers are interstate rivers. The rivers namely, Chambal, Sindh, Betwa , Ken flow northward and meet with Yamuna whereas the river Sone falls directly into Ganga. Narmada, Tapi and Mahi rivers flow westward and meet Arabian Sea whereas Wainganga and Pench rivers meet Godavari in the south. Annual run off from these rivers within the state is estimated 81719 hm, out of which about 49743 hm can be harnessed for irrigation purpose. The State can be divided onto six major river basins, the details of which are as follows.