Evaluation of Anantapuramu District Watershed Projects Using Remote Sensing & GIS Technology

Abstract

Change detection studies have been carried out for evaluation of fifteen watersheds in Anantapuramu District of Andhra Pradesh. The study was carried out using high resolution Resourcesat-2, Linear Imaging and Self Scanning-IV (LISS-IV) data of 2011 (pre-treatment) and 2016 (post-treatment) to assess the changes in land use/land cover and biomass over a period of five years (2011-16). With the implementation of the watershed developmental activities, an additional area of 14440 ha has been brought under cultivation. The output of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index classification indicates the increase in dense vegetation from 5842 ha to 13160 ha. An additional area of 396 ha increased under water bodies and 1101 ha waste land converted to cultivable land due to construction of farm ponds, percolation tanks and check dams.