CONCLUSIONS

Water balance assessment at catchment level helps in identifying the factors playing the role in the water yield. Impending climate change due to global warming has necessitated adoption of holistic approaches in the water resources management to ensure sustainability. Land use dynamics and quantification of hydrological parameters using remote sensing and GIS helps in the planning and sustainable management of natural resources. Basin wise assessment of hydrological status reveals that basins with dominant land cover as forests of native vegetation have streams which are perennial compared to sub-basins with other land uses. The water balance model used in this study show that, the demand in basins with higher agriculture and horticultural activities is higher than that of forested areas, where only water is lost through evapotranspiration. This analysis would help in hydrologists and land use managers in identifying basins that would be prone to water stress, and suitably plan for restoration of natural forests through afforestation, differ the cropping pattern, avail the water resource though the aquifers to satisfy the exact demand or plan for check dams to store water considering the topography and land use to overcome drought like conditions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to the Ministry of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Indian Institute of Science for the financial and infrastructure support. NRSC Hyderabad is acknowledged for providing IRS data.