Critical Watershed Prioritization through Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques and Geographical Information System Integration for Watershed Management

Sudipto Halder, Abhishek RoyChowdhury (), Sayanti Kar, Debdas Ray and Gupinath Bhandari
Additional contact information
Sudipto Halder: School of Water Resources Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Abhishek RoyChowdhury: Environmental Science and Natural Resources, School of Science, Navajo Technical University, Crownpoint, NM 87313, USA
Sayanti Kar: Department of Environmental Science, Asutosh College, Kolkata 700026, India
Debdas Ray: Department of Geology, Asutosh College, Kolkata 700026, India
Gupinath Bhandari: Department of Civil Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 8, 1-25

Abstract: The Precambrian hard rock topography of the Manbhum-Singhbhum plateau, which is well known for its semi-arid climates prone to drought, is often seen in Purulia district in West Bengal, India. Despite the district’s middling groundwater capacity, 17 out of 20 blocks have exorbitant fluoride pollution in the groundwater that negatively impacts the health of local residents. Approximately 13% of the whole area suffers from severe erosion. It is evident that the river Kangsabati and its tributaries are not well fed by rainwater and thereby there is always a dearth of ground water. The aim of this study was to identify and prioritize integral watersheds in the Purulia area using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The evaluation was carried out in the Bandu sub-watershed, which contains five micro watersheds: 2A2B5m, 2A2B5k, 2A2B5h, 2A2B5b, and 2A2B5j. The analysis considered five major factors: lithological properties, land use and land cover, soil erosion, groundwater recharge, and hydrogeomorphology. The weights of these criteria were determined by the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model, which was then prioritized using the Techniques for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) technique. This study emphasized an integrated approach to assess watershed hazards and to establish rational conservation goals. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) of India report was referred during data analysis. As a result of this study, the 2A2B5k watershed emerged as the most critical due to its susceptibility across the analyzed parameters. This thorough plan demonstrated the usefulness of identifying watershed threads and prioritizing conservation efforts.

Keywords: Multicriteria Decision-Making techniques; Geographic Information System; Analytical Hierarchy Process; Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution; Central Ground Water Board (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3467/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3467/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3467-:d:1379900

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().