Morphometric analysis and hydrological inferences for water resource management in Warana River basin of Maharashtra, India, using remote sensing and GIS

Abstract

Morphometry of a basin's reaction to a particular hydrology, in particular in river basins where agriculture is the dominant industry, offers knowledge for watershed management. In order to gain an understanding of the hydrological situation for the Warana River basin as a case study location in Maharashtra, an attempt was made to comprehend the morphometric features. Geoprocessing methods in QGIS 3.16 were used to calculate the morphometric parameters. Seventh-order Warana River basin has a dendritic drainage pattern with high stream frequency (2.99/km), infiltration number (7.22), and drainage density (2.41 km/km2 ), indicating high runoff potential; and a low Constant of channel maintenance (0.41) and lineament density (0.20 km/km2 ), indicating moderate recharge potential. The basin has a moderate flood and recharge property, according to the interrelationship among the morphometric factors. The Warana River basin has regular floods, according to the flood frequency analysis done for the Shigaon River gauging station. Decadal time scales for water table variations revealed moderate to high recharge characteristics. The study's conclusions can be used to categorize river basins for future developments and for the management of water resources, as well as to choose the best sites for water-conservation infrastructure, such as check dams, percolation tanks, and artificial groundwater recharge.

Keywords

• remote sensing
• gis
• morphometry
• drainage characteristics
• quantitative geomorphology
• groundwater fluctuations
• irrigation water management