Prioritization of Jiya Dhol Basin Using GIS

Prioritization of a river basin is utmost important for soil conservation and also it helps in identifying the critical soil loss areas of the basin. Prioritization of the basin can be done with the help of morphometric analysis. In the present study the main watershed of Jiya Dhol basin is divided into 11 sub-watersheds and morphometric analysis is carried out in each of the sub-basins using Arc GIS 10.1 tool to identify the sub-watershed which is most vulnerable to soil erosion. The prioritization of this sub- watershed has been carried out on the basis of morphometric analysis for land reclamation and soil erosion prevention. The maximum and minimum values of drainage density (Dd) are found to be 1.058 and 0.581 km/km for sub-watershed SWS10 and SWS5 and low drainage density values of sub-watershed SWS5 indicates that it has highly resistant, impermeable subsoil material with dense vegetative cover and low relief. The elongation ratio for the sub-watershed varies from 0.368 to 0.422 which indicates gentle slope and low relief. For prioritization of the sub-watersheds, the compound parameter values are calculated and the sub-watershed with the lowest compound parameter is given the highest priority. The sub-watershed SWS8 has a minimum compound parameter value of 3.9 and SWS 5 has a maximum compound parameter 7.9. Hence SWS8 has come under the high risk for soil erosion and need to give a high priority for land conservation practices.