Inventory of water bodies of the Western Himalayan region – A report by National Institute of Hydrology

The report presents an inventory of water bodies in the State of Jammu & Kashmir in the Western Himalayan region prepared using satellite data of IRS-1A (standard FCC, scale 1:250000) for 1988/ 99 and digital data of IRS-1C for 1998. Also, presented is a database developed with the help of Survey of India (SoI) topographic maps, which includes name and type of the water body, nearest place, district, river basin, geographical coordinates and elevation.

Wetlands in India have assumed considerable significance in recent years because of their ecological significance in terms of flood control, water purification, aquatic productivity and microclimate regulation, and as habitats of fish, birds and wildlife. A wide variety of wetlands, if managed properly, can be used profitably for meeting some of the human requirements and for environmental amelioration.

A complete understanding of the structure and functions of wetland ecosystem requires a multidisciplinary, multilayer study, including quantitative analysis of the hydrologic regime of the wetlands. The inventory of water bodies through a combination of satellite data of Survey of India toposheets is the first step in carrying out further analysis.

The water spread area and perimeter of the water body, both in pre-monsoon (March/ April/ June) and post-monsoon (October/ November/ December) periods, were calculated using a GIS package. The tables presenting classification of the water bodies according to altitude, river basin and districts have been included.

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