Use of Satellite Data for Watershed Management and Impact Assessment

Over-exploitation of natural resources for meeting the increasing demand for food, fuel, and fiber of the ever growing population has led to environmental degradation and calls for their optimal utilization based on their potential and limitations. Information on the nature, extent, and spatial distribution of natural resources is essential. Spaceborne multispectral measurements made at regular intervals hold immense potential of providing such information in a timely and cost-effective manner, and facilitate studying dynamic phenomenon. The geographic information system (GIS) provides an ideal environment for integration of information on natural resources with the ancillary information for generating derivative information which is useful in decision making. The study was taken up to generate the action plan for land and water resources development and to monitor the progress of its implementation in the Adarsha watershed, Kothapally, Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The approach involves generation of thematic maps on various natural resources through a systematic visual interpretation of satellite data, integration of such data with the ancillary information and generation of action plan in the GIS environment, and monitoring vegetation development as a sequel to implementation of action plan by generating Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS- 1C/-1D) Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor (LISS-III) data. Soil erosion by water is the major land degradation process operating in the watershed. There has been an improvement in the vegetation cover owing to implementation of various soil and water conservation measures, which is reflected in the NDVI images of pre- and post-implementation period