Watershed and Water Conservation

All of the land, which eventually drains to a common lake or river, is considered to be in the same watershed. Watersheds are defined by topographic divides which separate surface flow between two water system. All the rain that falls in a watershed flows in small streams. These small streams merge into a big stream. All such big streams flow in to a pond or lake or river. Agricultural and industrial activities in a watershed can affect the water quality of both surface water and groundwater. The pollutants find their way to surface water by runoff and to groundwater by infiltration. The human activities combined with natural forces shape the watershed. This combined effect affects the watershed landscape and its water quality. These, in turn, will affect our health and livelihood. Take the example of industrial activity which affects the water quality. The treated wastewater from industries is disposed off into environment. It reaches the water system of watershed and thus the quality of treated wastewater should be of acceptable level as stipulated by local regulatory authorities.

A watershed can be very large (e.g. draining thousands of acres to a major river or lake or the ocean), or very small, such as a 20-acre watershed that drains to a pond. A small watershed that lies inside a larger watershed is sometimes referred to as a sub watershed. The water conservation measures such as construction of check dams (small structures), percolation ponds and recharge wells should be based on topography of watershed. It is the social responsibility of the industries to conserving water to reduce wastewater volume. The water conservation will be economically gainful as well. Industries can recycle the treated wastewater in some cases to reduce the demand of freshwater. In this way watershed forms an ideal unit for management and sustainable development of its natural resources like water, soil, land and vegetation.