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A watershed is an area where streams of water drain or sheds into a waterbody. Watershed management hence refers to the efficient conservation and management of groundwater and surface water resources. This helps in recharging groundwater and preventing water runoff with the use of various methods such as recharge wells, percolation tanks, etc. In this article, we will have a look at watershed and watershed management with its advantages and disadvantages.
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Keyterms: Waterbody, Shed, groundwater, recharge wells, percolation tanks, streams, rivers, reservoirs, ground water, watershed, surface water
What is Watershed?
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A watershed refers to a geographical area of land that comprises a set of rivers and streams, all draining into a typical central water body such as a river or an ocean. In other words, we can also refer to it as the dividing ridges that exist between the drainage areas. Watersheds exist in a variety of sizes from small watersheds such as an inland lake to large watersheds which might cover miles of land such as streams, rivers, reservoirs, etc.
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| Importance of Water | Physical Properties of Water | Conservation of Water |
| Water Pollution Control | Scarcity of Water | Chemical Properties of Water |
Functions of Watershed
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Some of the functions of a watershed are:
- It captures, stores, and in turn, recharges groundwater.
- It avoids massive floods during rainfall by securing the release of rainwater.
- It filters out various water pollutants.
Types of Watershed
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Some of the types of watersheds to drain the water in an area are as given below:
- Macro watershed
- Micro Watershed
- Mini watershed
- Sub-watershed Milli-watershed
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Watershed Management
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The process to conserve soil and water so as to increase the production of biomass substances is known as watershed management. It includes judicious use of all the natural and human resources within a watershed along with their conservation and regeneration. The primary aim of the watershed is to develop a primary resource of land and to provide a secondary resource of plants and animals to maintain the ecological imbalance. It aims to stop the degradation of the land by implementing holistic steps and processes for getting maximum production. The government has initiated many projects for watershed management and development in India. Some of them are:
- Haryali Project is executed by Gram Panchayat and aims to save water.
- Neeru-Meeru program in Andhra Pradesh.
- Arvary Pani Sansad in Alwar, Rajasthan.
Advantages
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- It helps in increasing the production of plants.
- It helps in capturing, storing, and recharging groundwater and filtering out water pollutants.
- It secures the area from releasing rainwater to avoid floods during heavy rainfalls.
- Reduction of mismanagement and prevention of overexploitation of natural resources.
Disadvantages
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- A lot of costs are required to build a watershed.
- The watershed can only be built in areas that have adequate rainfall.
- It requires regular maintenance.
- Some problems caused by building watersheds are deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
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| Related Links | ||
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| Density of Water | Hard Water and Soft Water | Heavy Water |
| Forms of Water | Causes & Effects of Water Pollution | Causes of Water Scarcity |
Things to Remember
- A Watershed is a land area where rainfalls and snow melts into streams and rivers.
- It emphasizes the production of biomass.
- The aim is to develop primary resources of water and land.
- The process to conserve soil and water so as to increase the production of biomass substances is known as watershed management.
- Columbia River Watershed, Pacific Ocean Watershed, and the Sacramento River Watershed are some popular examples of watershed management.
- Watershed also results in some problems like deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
Sample Questions
Ques. What is an example of a watershed? (2 marks)
Ans. The watershed means an area of land that contains a common set of streams and rivers that all drain into a single larger body of water, such as a larger river, a lake, or an ocean. For example, the river of the Mississippi watershed is an enormous watershed.
Ques. What is the watershed project? (2 marks)
Ans. The Watershed Development Program ensures the supply of water to each field, eliminates craving and poverty from poor regions, gives green cover over stripped regions, and improves the environment.
Ques. Are watersheds man-made? (2 marks)
Ans. Watersheds can contain both natural and artificial water bodies. Natural water bodies incorporate streams, lakes, lakes, and springs. Artificial water bodies are man-made and incorporate repositories, ditches, water system lakes. channelized streams, and harbors.
Ques. What are the characteristics of watersheds? (2 marks)
Ans. Watersheds are characterized by the area of the pour-point, or mouth, of the fundamental progression of water to which the wide range of various places of stream join and at last drain from the watershed.
Ques. What are the three main parts of watershed management? (3 marks)
Ans. The three main parts of the watershed are water management, area management, and biomass management. Land characteristics like territory, incline, development, profundity, surface, dampness, penetration rate, and soil ability are the significant determinants of land management activities in a watershed.
Ques. Why is the watershed important? (1 mark)
Ans. Healthy watersheds offer basic types of assistance, for example, clean drinking water, useful fisheries, and outside diversion, that help our economies, climate, and quality of life.
Ques. How do humans impact the local watershed? (2 marks)
Ans. Rerouting streams and building dams are some examples of ways people directly impact water in watersheds. Humans use water as a resource, drawing from watersheds for our drinking water. This doesn't need to be an adverse consequence, as our water utilization can be checked if efforts are made for the same.
Ques. How watershed benefits an area? (2 marks)
Ans. Watershed development aims to adjust the preservation, regeneration, and use by people of land and water resources inside a watershed. Advantages from the watershed development projects incorporate work on agricultural yields and increased access to drinking water.
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