CLASSIFICATION OF   WATERSHEDS

What is a Watershed ?

Watershed or a drainage basin is defined as a natural topographical and hydrological entity where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, which is usually the exit or outlet of the drainage basin. Watershed can be simply defined as an area where the water from rainfall and snowfall is drained to a common point.

Watersheds are  classified depending upon the size, drainage, shape and land use pattern as follows :

1) Based on Size : 

The main implication of watershed size appears in terms of spatial heterogeneity of hydrological processes. The spatial variability of watershed characteristics increases with size, therefore, large watersheds are most heterogeneous. As the watershed size increases, storage increases. Based on size, the watersheds are divided as:

Macro watershed (> 500 km²)

Sub-watershed (100 to 500 km²)

Milli-watershed (10 to 100 km²)

Micro watershed (1 to 10 km²)

Mini watershed (< 1km²)

2) Based on Shape :

Watershed may be either fan shaped or fern shaped.

The fan shape watersheds are normally in circular shape; and fern shape watersheds are in elongated form.

A Fern shape watershed generates, for the same rainfall, a lower outlet flow, as the concentration time is higher. A watershed having a fan-shape presents a lower concentration time, and it generates higher flow.

If the catchment area is small and fern shaped the runoff will be low and if it is fan shaped runoff will be more.


3) Based on Land Use :

Land use defines the exploitation (natural and human interactions) characteristics of watersheds which affect the various hydrological processes within the watershed. The watershed classification based on the land use can be given as below :

i) Agricultural Watershed : 

Agricultural watershed is the watershed in which agricultural activities (crop cultivation) is dominant. It experiences perhaps the most dynamically significant land-use change. This usually leads to increased infiltration, increased erosion, and/or decreased runoff. Depression storage is also increased by agricultural operations. When the fields are barren, falling raindrops tend to compact the soil and infiltration is reduced. There is lesser development of streams in agricultural watersheds. The small channels formed by erosion and runoff in the area are obliterated by tillage operations. The soil structure is altered by regular application of organic and/or inorganic manure.  This, in turn, leads to changed infiltration characteristics.

ii) Urban Watershed: 

These are the watershed areas having maximum manipulation for the convenience of human being. These are dominated by buildings, roads, streets, pavements, and parking lots. These features reduce the infiltrating land area and increase imperviousness. As drainage systems are artificially built, the natural pattern of water flow is substantially altered. For a given rainfall event, interception and depression storage can be significant but infiltration is considerably reduced. As a result, there is pronounced increase in runoff and pronounced decrease in soil erosion. Thus, an urban watershed is more vulnerable to flooding if the drainage system is inadequate. Once a watershed is urbanized, its land use is almost fixed and its hydrologic behavior changes due to changes in precipitation.

iii) Mountainous Watershed : 

Because of higher altitudes, such watersheds receive considerable snowfall. Due to steep gradient and relatively less porous soil, infiltration is less and surface runoff is dominantly high for a given rainfall event. The areas downstream of the mountains are vulnerable to flooding. Due to snow melt, water yield is significant even during spring and summer.

iv) Forest Watershed : 

These are the watersheds where natural forest cover dominates other land uses. In these watersheds, interception is significant, and evapotranspiration is a dominant component of the hydrologic cycle. The ground is usually littered with leaves, stems, branches, wood, etc. Consequently, when it rains, the water is held by the trees and the ground cover provided greater opportunity to infiltrate. The subsurface flow becomes dominant and there are times when there is little to no surface runoff. Because forests resist flow of overland water, the peak discharge is reduced.

v) Desert Watershed : 

There is little to virtually no vegetation in desert watersheds. The soil is mostly sandy and little annual rainfall occurs. Stream development is minimal. Whenever there is rainfall, most of it is absorbed by the porous soil, some of it evaporates, and the remaining runs off only to be soaked in during its journey. There is limited groundwater recharge due to occurrence of less rainfall in these watersheds.

vi) Coastal Watershed: 

The watersheds in coastal areas may partly be urban and are in dynamic contact with the sea. Their hydrology is considerably influenced by backwater from wave and tidal action of the sea. Usually, these watersheds receive high rainfall, mostly of cyclonic type, do not have channel control in flow, and are vulnerable to severe local flooding. In these watersheds, the water table is high, and saltwater intrusion threatens the health of coastal aquifers, which usually are a source of the fresh water supply.  

vii) Marsh or Wetland Watershed : 

Such lands are almost flat and are comprised of swamps, marshes, water courses, etc. They have rich wildlife and plenty of vegetation. As water is no limiting factor to satisfy evaporative demand, evaporation is dominant. Rainfall is normally high and infiltration is minimal. Most of the rainfall becomes runoff. The flood hydrograph peaks gradually and lasts for a long time.

viii) Mixed Watershed : 

These are the watersheds, where multiple land use/land cover exists either because of natural settings or due to a combination of natural and human interaction activities. In these watersheds, a combination of two or more of the previous classifications occurs and none of the single characteristics dominate the area. In India, most of the watersheds are of mixed nature of characteristics, where agriculture, forest, settlements (urban and rural) etc. land use occurs.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *