From Satishkumar, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur

Posted 22 June 2011

I work with the Department of Soil and Water Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka. I have been engaged in teaching, research and extension activities on soil and water resource conservation, irrigation and drainage, surface and groundwater hydrology.

I am developing a knowledge information system on watershed (as defined by a natural boundary demarcated by runoff that leaves the boundary through a single outlet, i.e., stream/ river) management. Eventually, a watershed is the managerial unit of planning, development and management of natural (land water and energy), animal, plant, and human resources for their sustainable use.

A watershed could be as small as a few hectares to several thousand square kilometres, covering a river basin. Because of human intervention in terms of indiscriminate agriculture, deforestation, industrialization and urbanization, land and water resources are susceptible for degradation in terms excessive erosion, siltation, salinity, barren land, droughts, deserts, depletion of groundwater as well as the repercussions of climate change.

Again, the stakeholders of the different land-uses including farmers, government line departments, scientists and engineers, policy makers, social activists, NGOs and the public are slowly becoming aware of the problems ahead. They are putting their efforts into solutions from their own perspectives and limitations. Hence, there is need to develop and manage a knowledge base in the form of an information system. This can consolidate all aspects, activities, data and information related to natural resources status, planning, development and management. It can also facilitate the dissemination of this knowledge.

For developing this information base, I am looking at natural resource management with special attention to water. For this, I request members to please share the following    

• Experiences in developing a knowledge system especially for water resources management
• What are the suitable data management systems and the software involved? 
• How can various aspects of the issue be linked?

Your comments will open ways and means in data-base collection and will serve as a repository of various knowledge based systems available. It will help in providing robust knowledge base to the development practitioners in the natural management aspects.

Download the below attachment for response