Drone survey facilitated weeds assessment and impact on hydraulic efficiency of canals.

Aquatic weeds are unwanted plants playing an important role in different ecosystem and many of them cause enormous direct and indirect losses. In India, many irrigation canal projects are suffering from massive growth of weeds along the canal sides in addition to siltation along canal bed. It impacts hydraulic parameters like an increase in roughness impacts flowing velocity and reduction in cross-section which reduces the flow capacity of irrigation canals, thereby reducing the availability of water to farmers. The complexity of these situations has resulted in the need for assessment of the impact of weeds on the hydraulic efficiency of canals. For accurate assessment of weeds, low-altitude drone survey becomes an innovative and cost-effective solution along with ground photos. This study was carried out to identify vegetation along Right Bank Main Canal of Dudhganga Irrigation Project in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra State in India using ground photos, drone images, and high-resolution satellite data to assess the hydraulic changes to canals. The result shows an average reduction in conveyance efficiency by 23% as per measured data and transport capacity diminished by 32.79% when compared to design data due to impacted hydraulic characteristics observed during this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]