Analysis of impact of Canal Irrigation on Waterlogged areas and Environment using Geo-informatics Technology in Gujarat State

Abstract

The present study was carried out in Mahi Canal Command area in Vadodara district for monitoring the environmental impact of water logging and salinity on agriculture using Multi-temporal Remote Sensing data of past 15-years. The Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (Resourcesat-1) LISS-III, LISS-IV and Landsat TM data of 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2016 covering study area was analyzed for mapping waterlogged and salt-affected areas. The data from open-well observations was also collected to monitor the impact of canal irrigation on water-table and in turn on water-logging in the study area. The point measurements of open-well data were used to generate spatial distribution maps using Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) Interpolation technique and these were superimposed on Satellite data. The waterlogged and salt-affected areas delineated using Remote sensing data was validated by carrying out detailed field survey as well as spatial IDW layers of water-table in the study area. The results of analysis of agricultural area indicate that agricultural area has substantially increased due to introduction of canal irrigation which has helped to improve socio-economic condition of the farmers in the Vaghodia taluka. Agricultural area of medium and dense categories has increased during 2000 to 2016 accounting an increase from 12% to 26% in case of medium and 6.9% to 20% in dense agriculture, respectively. The water table in some of the villages in the study area has slightly come up during the period of last 15-years and at most predominantly after introduction of canal irrigation but it is much below to cause any water logging problem. However, it was also observed that waterlogged and salt-affected areas have decreased over the period of one decade due to augmentation of drainage system in the study area.