Estimation of Soil Loss using GIS Coupled with RUSLE for the Sustainable Management of Mudhole Watershed in Adilabad

The Mudhole watershed in Adilabad district of Telangana is prone to severe erosion. The soil loss data at watershed level is necessary for planning soil and water conservation interventions. In this study, an attempt was made to estimate the soil loss spatially and temporally for Mudhole watershed using RUSLE coupled with ARC GIS. The daily rainfall data of IMD for the period 1951 to 2013 was used and the annual rainfall varied from 497 to 1653 mm with a mean annual rainfall of 997.5 mm and a mean erosivity of 8781MJ mm/ha/h/y. Considerable spatial and temporal variation in soil loss was observed during above normal, normal and drought years. The topography of the watershed is undulating and major portion of the watershed has soil loss below 5 t/ha/y in a drought year, <15 t/ha/y in a normal year and <20 t/ha/y in above normal years. The soil loss from crop land was higher in the month of July/August. Based on the soil loss in a normal year, the interventions recommended for the watershed includes in-situ measures like contour cultivation, graded bunds, strip cropping, summer ploughing etc and water harvesting structures like farm ponds and percolation tanks.