Geospatial techniques and PCA-based prioritization of reservoir catchments located in Shivalik foot-hills of Indian Punjab for land and water conservation

Abstract

Nine reservoir catchments (Chohal, Damsal, Dholbaha, Januari, Maili, Nara, Patiaria, Selaran and Thana) located in Shivalik foot-hills of Indian Punjab were prioritized using geospatial techniques and principal component analysis (PCA) for soil and water conservation planning. The selected catchments were demarcated using a digital elevation model (DEM) of 12.5 m resolution (ALOS PALSAR) in ArcGIS 10.4.1 software. The higher values of shape parameters (Ff > 0.78, Re > 0.8 and Cc ≥ 1) indicated circular shapes of Saleran and Nara dam catchments with high peaks for a shorter duration, from where the flood flows cannot be easily managed. These basins indicate coarse drainage density (Dd = 2.0–4.0 km km−2). The relative relief (Rrel) was also computed to the highest (0.124) for Saleran and Nara dam catchments, respectively. The geospatial techniques-based morphometric analysis helped to identify the shapes of the reservoir catchments including the factors affecting hydrological conditions and soil erodibility. The PCA application simplified the prioritization process via a reduction in the number of parameters. Thus, geospatial techniques-based morphometric analysis coupled with PCA-based prioritization is significant to identify the most critical reservoir catchment in a region for conservation planning. The study would be useful for implementing appropriate soil and water management measures in the highly prioritized reservoir catchment.

Prioritization of watersheds for land and water management in lower Sutlej River Basin using geospatial technology

“…These factors provide invaluable insights into the evolution of catchments and their influence on the development of drainage morphometry (Bali et al, 2012;Patel et al, 2013;Sujatha et al, 2014). Previous research published in north-western India on morphometric analysis and prioritization of distinct watersheds has been published on the Shivalik foothills by Bhatt et al (2007); Kumar & Kushwaha (2013); Kaur et al (2014); Singh et al (2016); Kushwaha et al (2016); Kushwaha & Bhardwaj (2017); Sushanth & Bhardwaj (2019); Singh et al (2021); Singh et al (2023). The lower Sutlej sub-basin is currently facing multiple challenges, including soil erosion by water in upstream watersheds as highlighted by Sharma et al (2023), degradation of water quality as indicated by Setia et al (2020), groundwater depletion, and the impacts of climate change, as studied by Kaur et al (2022).…”