Manual and automated delineation of watershed boundaries– a case study from Kangra region of western Himalaya, India

A study was carried out in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in Indian western Himalaya to understand feasibility of automated and manual watershed boundary delineation. It was observed that manual preparation of these boundaries are tedious, time consuming and require base inputs in terms of topographic maps. It is done by skilled user. The automated approach for watershed delineation is simpler as comparison, and can be carried out using open source software and freely available database as inputs. The results showed that the automated watershed boundaries were accurate, smooth and faster in processing. The automated approach is advantageous in mountainous complex terrain drained by numerous smaller tributaries.