Geoinformatic Digital Governance of Innovative River
Connectivity in Jalgaon District
Vijay Singhal
Collector, Jalgaon District,
Jalgaon-425002
Maharashtra State, India
Tel-091-257-2220400
e-mail : vijaysinghal@hotmail.com
G. P. Patil
Professor of Mathematical
and Environmental Statistics
Pennsylvania State
U.S.A.
e-mail- gpp@stat.psu.edu
S. N. Bharambe
Lecturer
Department of Geography
M.J.College, Jalgaon-425002
Maharashtra State, India
Tel. 091-257-2237934
e-mail : snb.jalasri@gmail.com
Udaykumar Sahu
Lecturer,
JalaSRI, Watershed Surveillance
Research Institute
Jalgaon-425002. Maharashtra State
e-mail : uls.jalasri@gmail.com
V. D. Patil
Executive Engineer
Dept. of Irrigation,
Jalgaon-425002
Maharashtra State, India
Tel. 091-257-2261806
e-mail : vdpatilmid@rediffmail.com
Wayne Myers
Associate Professor of Biometrics
School of Forest Resources
Pennsylvania State University,
U.S.A.
e-mail : wlm@psu.edu
Suhas Wani
Scientist
ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India
e-mail : s.wani@cgair.org
ABSTRACT
Water is a basic necessity of life. High rate of population growth
and rapid improvement in the civilization due to advancement in
technology for better life, mankind is fascinated with enhanced
application of water for its day-to-day multi facet requirements.
These requirements are due to greater municipal demands, heavy
industrialization, improved agricultural methods and area
recreation etc. Therefore, water is considered as a prime natural
resource, a basic human need and a valuable national asset.
Though fresh water is available in abundance, it is not equitably
distributed. Till the middle of the 20th century, the importance of
water on life had not been particularly felt because of its moderate
demand. But relentless increase in the demand of fresh water in
recent years has led to the scarcity of the basic resource in many
countries of the world. Such spurt in demand is caused by
i) rapid growth of population
ii) increase in urbanisation and industrialisation
iii) high intake of fresh water in irrigation for additional food
production and
iv) misuse and wastage of fresh water in miscellaneous ways.
This has resulted in scarcity of water in various countries, even for
drinking. Solving these water resource problems will require an
improved understanding of the fundamental physical, biological,
economic and social processes and a better knowledge of how all
these components operate together within watershed.
The area under study comprises of Jalgaon District which is
located in the north-west region of the state of Maharashtra
between 200 and 210 North latitudes and 740 55' to 760 28' East
longitudes. It is sandwiched by Satpuda mountain ranges in the
north, Ajanta mountain ranges in the south. It is also surrounded
by Aurangabad and Nashik districts in the south, the State Madhya
Pradesh and Buldhana district in north, Dhule district in the west.
Jalgaon District receives an average annual rainfall of about 690
mm and the temperature varies from 10 to 48oC. It is highest
during April, May and lowest during November, December.
District hosts a population about 3.6 million in the area of about
1176500 Ha. The total agricultural area is 908548 Ha.
The District is mainly drained by major river Tapi, with its
tributaries Bhokar, Suki, Hadkai, Ratnawati, Aner on the left bank
and Girna , Waghur, Bori, Ajani and panzara on right bank. There
are two major dams in the Tapi Basin viz. Hatnur and Girna. In
rainy season 2005, the outflowing water of Girna and Tapi was
utilized in drought prone area by diverting flood water into
existing canal system, by increasing the capacity of canals by
constructing new approach canal. The water was supplied to the
drought prone areas, which had received scanty rainfall. All local
public representatives to the Govt. of Maharashtra raised the
demand for river connectivity initiative for the whole district.
Hence, concrete proposal for River Linking Project is planned.
The target of River Linking Project is to divert the main surplus
river water into needful areas and to use it directly or by
percolating it to raise the ground water level, moreover, to store it
into the existing water bodies like M. I. Tanks, Medium Project,
Percolation Tank and Village Tanks and use it in the near future.
In view of the above, the River Linking Project Stage-I is planned
and proposed. Govt. of Maharashtra, Water resources department,
Z.P. and Water Conservation Department has constructed Medium
Project, M.I.Tank, Percolation Tank, K.T.Weirs. However due to
peculiar nature of Tapi river basin, and its geographical terrain
locations and uneven spatial distribution of monsoon rain fall over
the drainage and a noticed relative shift and periodicity in
occurrence of rainfall within the sub-catchments, it is observed
that large quantum of river flows during monsoon from some
storages, in the form of flood has been left untapped thus resulting
in many of the storage dams not attaining their planned
conservative storage levels. It is therefore felt appropriate to
undertake linking the conducive river sub valley storages within a
large basins as the first step to implement the national river linking
plan.
GIS Information Systems are powerful analytical tools for
improving public policies, programme management and service
delivery. GIS Science has played a major role in the development
of distributed hydrologic models and in improving our
understanding of the spatial aspects of the distribution and
movement of water in the spatial aspects of the distribution and
movement of water in landscapes. GIS applications support every
kind of governmental purpose at all levels of government for
comprehensive planning and effective management of natural
resources.
With this view, JalaSRI-Institute of Watershed
Surveillance and Research and Local Government with together
recognised the need of river connectivity initiative in Jalgaon
district as a thrust area and hence has decided to undertake
collaborative studies concerning the issue. During the
implementation some part of some villages at higher elevation
have not been benefited by this initiative. However, a possibility
of bringing them into the network can be assessed. Similarly the
impact analysis of the river networking initiative in Jalgaon
district needs to be addressed. In this process, the use of modern
scientific tools and technologies such as GIS, Remote Sensing,
sensor networks shall be made by JalaSRI and government
authorities along with some active NGOs in the immediate future.
GENERAL TERMS
Management, Measurement, Documentation, Performance,
Economics, Design, Security, Reliability, Verification
KEYWORDS
River connectivity, Geoinformatics, Geographical Information
System, Remote Sensing, Socio-economic Impact, Cost-Benefit
analysis, potential adverse impact, Sustainability
INTRODUCTION
The primary thrust of proposed work is as follows a) Proposed Link Clusters of River Connectivity initiative.
b) Socio-Economic Aspects
i) Provision of recharge canal
ii) Provision linkages of valley storages
c) Technical Details
d) People participation
e) Geographical statistics
f) Conclusion and Remarks
g) Future forecasting and predictions
RESEARCH
Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System is playing
a rapidly increasing role in the field of water resource
development. Remote Sensing provides multi-spectral, multitemporal and multi-sensor data of earth surface. One of the
greatest advantages of using Remote Sensing data for water
resource investigation and monitoring is its ability to generate
information in spatial and temporal domain which is very crucial
for successful analysis, prediction and validation. Since all
governments are charged with matters within a geographic region,
most government-associated data comes with a geographic
component through which it can be organized, accessed and
analysed in the GIS. Understanding where things happen is often a
key to delivering government services. Integrating information
from diverse sources based on where things happen or where
things are, has proven to be a powerful way to plan and deliver
public services more effectively and efficiently. This type of
capabilities and data sources have an enormous impact beyond
research and management because their potential influence on
identification of locations and sites for river or canal connections.
For this purpose activities are focussed on impact analysis of river
connectivity initiative by using geo-informatics and modern tools
like sensors networks. It deals with the study of 1. Geoinformatics of river linking induced ground water table rise
and its amelioration.
2. Geoinformatics of flow measurement of rivers and canals for
studying erosion.
3. Study of siltation problem to outline the direction of the river
linking landscape setting.
4. Geoinformatics Hydrological modelling and landscape analysis
5. Application of GIS and RS in the analysis of Socio- economic
impact assessment in the watersheds.
6. Promotion of the "Have not class" of local population in
immediate vicinity of river network through micro-rural
financing schemes.
7. Watershed stewardship program.
8. To undertake prototype work of Ajani or Jhiri watershed
located in the region of river connectivity initiative integrated
with local wisdom and practice.
9. Geoinformatics of Potential adverse impact of river linking
initiative.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Junior authors acknowledge the guidance of Dr. G. P. Patil,
Pennsylvania State University; University Park; PA 16802-2112,
Dr. Wayne Myers, Associate Professor of Biometrics School of
Forest Resources, Pennsylvania State University, U.S.A.,
Khandesh College Education society, Jalgaon and Researchers
Team of M. J. College for their support.
REFERENCES
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