A Geospatial Approach to Interlink Seasonal Reservoirs to Mitigate Drought at Micro-Level in Sivaganga Taluk, Tamilnadu

Abstract

Drought is one of the most widespread hydro-meteorological syndrome of ‘prolonged period of water Scarcity affecting human life. Government of India has declared 13 states under drought prone regions and Sivaganga district in the state of Tamilnadu is selected for this study as it falls under Drought Prone Area Programme. The aim of this study is to identify and manage drought on microlevel. LANDSAT ETM+ of 2015, SRTM DEM, ten years (i.e 2005-2015) of rainfall and borewell data were used for generating various thematic layers such as land use and land cover (LULC), NDSI and NDWI followed by hydrology modelling. Zones that are falling under the criteria of minimum rainfall, minimum water level and high NDSI value, identified of water stress. The interlinks are overlaid on identified water stress zones to propose the interlink path for diverting surplus water from seasonal ponds to mitigate drought at micro level with validation.

Keywords: Microlevel Drought, LULC, Indices, Water logged and canals interlink