National Wetland

Objectives: 

Realising the importance of  wetlands that dot the Indian landscape,  an inventory of wetlands on 1:50,000 scale is essential. The main objectives of the project are:

1. To map the wetlands of all districts of the State on 1:50,000 scale using two date (pre and post monsoon)  IRS 1C/ 1D  LISS –III satellite data following a standard wetland classification system
2. To map the pre amd post monsoon waterspread
3. To map the pre and post monsoon aquatic vegetation associated with the wetlands
4. To qualitatively map the sedimentation levels in the wetlands during pre and post monsoon
5. Integration of ancillary theme layers (road, rail, settlement, drainage, administrative boundaries) with wetland boundaries.
6. Creation of seamless database of the State and country in GIS environment.
7. Preparation of state-wise wetland atlases
8. To map the wetlands below the mimimum mapable unit as point cover

Description:

It is increasingly realized that the planet earth is facing grave environmental problems with the fast depleting natural resources,  threatening the very existence of most of the ecosystems. Serious concerns are voiced among scientists, planners, sociologists, politicians and economists to conserve and preserve the natural resources of the world. One of the constraints most frequently faced for decision making is lack of scientific data of our natural resources. Often the data are sparse or unauthentic, rarely in the form of geospatial database (maps), thus open to challenges.  Hence, the current emphasis of every country is to have an appropriate geospatial database of natural resources based on unambiguous scientific methods. The wetland atlas of Maharashtra, which is part of the National Wetland Atlas of India, is an attempt in this direction.

  Wetlands are one of the crucial natural resources. Wetlands are areas of land that are either temporarily or permanently covered by water. This means that a wetland is neither truly aquatic nor terrestrial; it is possible that wetlands can be both (aquatic nor terrestrial)  at the same time depending on seasonal variability. Thus, wetlands exhibit enormous diversity according to their genesis, geographical location, water regime and chemistry, dominant plants and soil or sediment characteristics. Due to  their transitional nature, the boundaries of wetlands are often difficult to define.

Satellite Data used:

IRS -P6  LISS-III satellite data 

 

 

Methodology: 

Salient features of methodology adopted are :

·Generation of spatial framework in GIS environment for database creation and organisation.

·Geo-referencing of satellite data

·Identification of wetland classes as per the classification scheme  and mapping of the classes using a knowledge based digital classification and onscreen interpretation

·Generation of base layers (rail, road network, settlements, drainage, administrative boundaries) from satellite image and ancillary data.

·Mosaicing/edge matching to create district and state level database.

·Coding of the wetlands following the standard classification system and codification as per NWIA.

·Preparation of map compositions and generation of statistics

·Outputs on A3 size prints and charts for atlas.

 

Project Deliverables: 

WETLAND ATLAS of Maharashtra 

Complete status of water bodies including water spread

Status of waterbodies under threat due to auatic vegetation and sedimentation needing remedial measures

Beneficiaries: 

Irrigation Department

Water Resources Departmennt

Environment Department

District Collectorate 

Zilla Parishad

NGOs