Identification of watershed preference management areas under water quality and scarcity constraints: case of Jhajjar district watershed, India

Groundwater quality, scarcity and over-exploitation of available resources have produced several critical problems in Jhajjar district, Haryana, India. Health problems associated with drinking of polluted groundwater and its escalating demands make management of groundwater more complicated and require more innovative scientific analyses for good strategies of water management. In this study, a comprehensive water management plan has been developed for seven sub-watersheds of Jhajjar district using the remote sensing and geographical information system techniques. This research work addresses a central concern: how an integrated watershed management system can be applied, which can solve both water quality and scarcity problem in semi-arid climatic conditions. About 30 parameters including linear, areal and relief aspects of watersheds were determined for these watersheds. The focus was given on the characteristics of drainage basins such as permeability, soil quality, slope, run-off time and time of concentration for watershed during a rainfall event. Analysis results show that most of the basins are of an elongated shape with low drainage density and texture, which makes recharge plan difficult. Based on the outcome of the morphometric analysis of sub-watersheds, various suitable recharge sites have been proposed along with recharge structures for various stream orders. This study will address the immediate need to incorporate groundwater quality and will also help in replenishing the groundwater resources if implemented.