Assessment of Soil Erosion in Haryana State

Soil loss through water erosion in Haryana was assessed using universal soil loss equation (USLE). Six factors of the equation were computed from the data collected during soil resource survey of the state and secondary sources for 468 grids located at 10 km × 10 km spacing. About 77% of the area has annual soil loss less than 5 t ha⁻¹ which is within the tolerance limit. Around 20% area is experiencing annual soil loss in the range of 5.0 to 15.0 t ha⁻¹. Only less than 3% area of the state has soil loss more than 15 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and it includes moderately severe (15–20 t ha⁻¹), severe (20–40 t ha⁻¹) and very severe (>40 t ha⁻¹) classes having 1.09, 1.26 and 0.43% area, respectively. These areas are concentrated in the foothills of Aravalli and Shivalik hill ranges in the districts of Mahendergarh, Gurgaon and Panchkula and areas around Markanda and Ghaghar rivers in Ambala and Sirsa districts, respectively. The areas experiencing different severity of erosion have been delineated and causative factor identified for evolving a sound conservation plan.