Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ANALYTICAL STUDY OF QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF WATERSHED BETWEEN TAPI AND WANSUKI DISTRY RIVER OF KAKARAPAR AND UKAI COMMAND AREA

Sandip Deshmukh, Kavita Pansare, Vijay Balsane, Kalpse Borse and B. K. Samtani

Abstract

The drainage basin can be considered as a laboratory of the hydrologic cycle. With the only exception of the atmospheric aspects of precipitation, that is where the hydrologic processes occur and where these processes leave permanent imprints of their effects on the drainage basin itself. The evidence of these imprints is displayed in the surface topography and exhibited in the stream channels themselves by their size, number, and dimensions. These imprints are related to soil type, geology, and vegetation. It is no exaggeration that understanding the clues displayed in a drainage basin is vital to successful prediction of the hydrologic behavior of that drainage basin. The drainage basin can be considered as a system that converts rainfall to runoff and during this process, it retains some of the rainfall for its own use. This use includes all the loss elements or abstraction of the runoff equations. Drainage basin also controls the rate at which runoff will occur and the degree to which runoff water will be the degree to which runoff water will be concentrated. The results of analysis of quantitative characteristics of the drainage basin between Tapti and Wansuki Distry Rivers agree with the study carried out. The relation developed for watersheds parameters holds good for the study drainage basin. The analysis of quantitative characteristics of watershed shows that the characteristics parameters are extremely useful in evaluating hydrologic response of basin. The study area becomes flooded in case of medium to heavy rainfall because of sparse network of drain and insufficient design drain section, which is unable to drain storm within stipulated time period. In order to overcome this following remedial measures are suggested : (1) Increase in Drainage Density can be made by excavating new drains in the basin or increasing the length of the existing natural drains. (ii) Decrease in Time of Flow can be affected by either regarding or resectionong of the drain section. (iii) Time of overland flow (inlet time) can be increased by providing more numbers drain so as to increase the cross sectional area and regarding it so as to increase velocity of flow. The various alternatives can be prepared and economic analysis for them can be done to select the optimized alternative out of them.