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A study was undertaken to prioritize the six reservoir catchments, viz. C1: Chohal dam, C2: Dholbaha dam, C3: Thana dam, C4: Janauri dam, C5: Damsal dam and C6: Patiaria dam, located in Shivalik foothills of North-West India, using morphometric and principal component analysis (PCA), remote sensing and GIS techniques for land and water conservation aspects. The selected catchments were delineated using high-resolution ALOS PALSAR digital elevation model (DEM) in ArcGIS 10.4.1 software (Archydro tool). The morphometric analysis was found suitable for identifying catchment shapes and the factors affecting hydrologic conditions and erodibility. The lower values of elongation ratio (0.59–0.79), circularity ratio (0.23–0.36) and form factor (0.28–0.64) indicated higher soil erosion potential in the catchments. Moreover, the higher values of stream frequency, drainage density, drainage texture and bifurcation ratio indicated higher runoff potential, which would intensify the soil erosion. The results indicated a successful enactment of both approaches in catchment prioritization. PCA used only highly correlated parameters, thereby reducing the prioritization time. The morphometric analysis followed by PCA-based prioritization was witnessed to be consistent for better decision-making in conservation planning. Thus, remote sensing and GIS-based morphometric analysis followed by prioritization can be highly useful in identifying the critical issues related to water distribution, erosion pattern and groundwater recharge in the most critical reservoir catchment (s). Moreover, in the reservoir catchments where the sediment inflow significantly reduces their storage capacities, such study can be useful in maintaining the maximum reservoir storage volumes through appropriate land and water conservation measures.

Management of natural resources particularly soil and water is very important. The watershed is considered to be the ideal unit for management of natural resources. Remote sensing and GIS, being efficient, accurate and time saving techniques have found great relevance for management of natural assets. In the present study, remote sensing and GIS have been used to evaluate the morphometric parameters of the Dada watershed located in the lower Shivaliks of Punjab. The high resolution ALOS PALSAR digital elevation model having spatial resolution of 12.5 m has been used for calculating various morphometric parameters such as linear, aerial and relief aspects of the watershed morphometry. Morphometric parameters such as stream order, stream length, drainage density, stream frequency, circulatory ratio, form factor, bifurcation ratio, elongation ratio, compactness coefficient etc. have been evaluated. The total area and perimeter of the study watershed is 1491.1 ha and 29.1 km, respectively. The results of the study revealed that the Dada watershed is 5th order watershed. It was observed that total number of streams in the study watershed is 377 out of which 216 are of 1st order, 94 are of 2nd order, 60 are of 3rd order, 6 are of 4th order and 1 is of 5th order. The total lengths of all stream is 71.98 km and mean stream length is 190.92 m. Drainage density of the watershed is 4.83 km/km2. Drainage texture and length of overland flow are 30.45 no./km and 2.414 km, respectively. The watershed is having stream frequency of 25.28 no./km2 and mean bifurcation ratio of 4.97. The watershed has form factor of 0.27, circulatory ratio of 0.22 and the elongation ratio of 0.586. The present study is constructive discourse to comprehend the hydrological behaviour of the watershed. It would be useful for planning and implementation of soil and water conservation measures in the Dada watershed.

The Shivalik foothills of northwestern India are very prone to soil erosion by water due to undulating slopes, highly erodible soils and high intensity rainstorm events during monsoon season. Physically based soil erosion modeling is seen as viable method for planning of measurements to reduce damages done by soil erosion. Nevertheless, parametrization of such models is a major challenge for large inaccessible areas. Several methods do exist for the estimation of the input parameters skin factor, surface roughness and resistance to erosion for the physically based soil erosion model EROSION-3D. Four rainfall experiments, each including dry and wet run, were conducted on different land use conditions on a research farm of the Regional Research Station Ballowal Saunkhri to test estimation methods. Modeling parameters were determined from these experiments. Parameter estimation by two methods for experimental conditions produced values in close range to experimentally determined values for resistance to erosion and surface roughness. Therefore, existing estimation methods are considered to be applicable for the conditions of the Shivalik mountains, except for skin factor. A first modeling with EROSION-3D using preliminary data of a small example catchment shows uncertainties resulting from range of determined and estimated soil parameters.