Question

What is watershed management? Do you think it can play an important role in sustainable development?

What is watershed management?

Answer 1

Watershed management basically refers to efficient management and conservation of surface and groundwater resources with community participation. It involves the prevention of runoff and storage and recharge of groundwater through various methods like percolation tanks, recharge wells, etc. However, in broad sense watershed management includes conservation, regeneration, and judicious use of all resources – natural (like land, water, plants, and animals) and the human within a watershed. Watershed management aims at bringing about a balance between natural resources on the one hand and society on the other. The success of watershed development largely depends upon community participation. In short, the community is the soul of the entire scheme.

Watershed management not only conserves the entire ecosystem of an area but also empowers the people by making them socially and economically self-reliant as it has community participation as its vital component. Since local people understand the local ecosystem in the best way, therefore they conserve in the best way. Sustainable development is the development, which fulfills the needs of the present generation without depriving the future generations of the benefits arising from the resources. Watershed management helps to conserve the environment along with fulfilling the needs of the people.

The importance of watershed management in sustainable development has been identified and many programs both by government and NGOs have been launched for watershed management. Some examples are—
Haryalis, a watershed development project sponsored by the Central Government which aims at enabling the rural population to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries, and afforestation. The Project is being executed by Gram Panchayats with people’s participation.
Neeru-Meeru (Water and You) program (in Andhra Pradesh) and Arvary Pani Sansad (in Alwar, Rajasthan) have taken up constructions of various water-harvesting structures such as percolation tanks, dug out ponds (Jihad), check dams, -etc. through people’s participation. Tamil Nadu has made water harvesting structures in the houses compulsory. No building can be constructed without making structures for water harvesting.