Integrated River basin Management

Chapter 6
Watershed Management Approaches
and treatment methods
Prepared By: Eliyas A. (MSc)

2019
Watershed Degradation
 Watershed degradation is the long-term reduction of the
quantity and quality of land and water resources.

 Degradation results from a range of natural and anthropogenic

factors, including

soil erosion,

 Changes in farming systems,

 overgrazing,

 deforestation, and

 pollution
Cont……..
 The main negative impacts of watershed deterioration are:
 Depletion of soil productivity,

 Sedimentation of water courses, reservoirs and coasts,

 Increased runoff and flash flooding,

 Reduced infiltration to groundwater, and

 Water quality deterioration.

Cont……..

 Institutional and socioeconomic factors driving natural

resource degradation:

 Market failure

 Policy failure

 Institutional failure

 Implementation failure

 Population growth

 Poverty
Watershed Management
 Watershed management is the integrated use of land,
vegetation, and water in a geographically discrete drainage
area, with the objective of protecting or conserving the
hydrologic services and reducing or avoiding negative
downstream or groundwater impacts.

 Watershed management approaches need to be adapted

to the local situation and alternatives may need to be
considered.
Cont……..
 A typical watershed management program is thus likely to
aim at the following:
 Improving the management of land and water, and their
interactions and externalities
 Increasing the intensity and productivity of resource use in the
upland area
 Improving environmental services and reducing negative
externalities for downstream areas
 Addressing technical, institutional, and policy issues needed
Cont……..
Watershed Management Approaches and treatment
methods:
1. Scale of intervention

 Watershed management programs generally adopt

the micro-watershed as the basic management unit,
since this allows the integration of land, water, and
infrastructure development and the inclusion of all
stakeholders in a participatory process
Cont……..
2. The combination of conservation and livelihoods objectives,

 Watershed management approach can, under the right

circumstances, achieve both sustainable soil and water
conservation and the intensification of resource use
needed to improve stakeholders’ livelihoods.
 Restricting access to forests or rangeland will only work
when all users, and especially the poor, have access to
alternative income-generating activities.
Cont……..
3. Applied research approaches.

 The purpose of landscape planning is to develop

conservation management strategies that:
 Respond to scientific understanding of natural systems

 Link to sustainable community development

 Adaptive to changing societal conditions and values.

 Watershed treatment measures
 Land treatment measures which bind the soil and
increase infiltration rates on areas of degraded
land can be effective in reducing the amount of run-off.

 A wide variety of structural and non-structural options

may be employed to achieve one or both of the following:
 To control or to rehabilitate land degradation,

 To control or mitigate the occurrence of water-based natural

disasters.
Cont……..
 The structural approaches comprise a number of small and
relatively low-cost mechanical devices whose function is:
 To reduce run-off rates or volumes,

 To control or retard overland flow or to give protection against

erosive or scouring forces.

 The non-structural measures comprise a variety of farming,

cropping and cultivation techniques whose purposes are:
 To maintain a protective vegetative cover,

 To increase infiltration and to impede overland flow.

Cont……..
 Utilizing a combination of structural and nonstructural
measures in an integrated fashion is necessary to achieve
optimal management results.
Watershed treatment measures for Irrigation

 On existing irrigation areas there are many non-structural

and structural measures which can be taken to maintain
sustainability of production and avoid the development of
land degradation problems.
Cont……..
 Appropriate land management techniques and land-use
controls in irrigation areas might include:
 The restriction of crop types

 The use of water application techniques

 The introduction of improved land preparation techniques

 Changing where necessary to alternative irrigation methods

 Ensuring that adequate leaching practices are employed

 Improving irrigation distribution systems and water ordering

Cont……..
 Structural measures that might be undertaken to control
irrigation salinity problems include:
 Installation of adequate surface drainage systems to provide for
effective disposal of excess water’

 Installation of adequate sub-surface drainage facilities to maintain

appropriate water table depths.

 The installation groundwater pumping networks to control

groundwater accumulation.

 Provision for safe disposal of drainage waters

Soil and Water Conservation measures

 There are various types of soil and water conservation

interventions to be applied based on Agro-ecological
zone, soil depth, drainage, texture, slope and land use/land
cover. The following soil and water conservation
categories have been proposed for the integrate
watershed management: (Reading assignment)
 Agronomic practice,
 Biological soil and water conservation practices,
 Physical soil and water conservation practices,