Satellite based Monitoring of Water Resource Project using Google Earth: A Case Study of Bhima LIS

Abstract

Monitoring of physical progress of water resources projects is challenging because the field inspection has serious limitations as the canal network isn’t uniform across the command area. The canal network consists of main canals, distributaries and minors of varying dimensions right from head works towards tail end. Hence, use of remote sensing and geographical information system (RS and GIS) offers tremendous scope in monitoring of progress of water resources projects as the field visits are limited by accessibility to command area, time constraints and constraints to choose the location. But the varying dimensions of canal network in command area is also challenging for RS and GIS as it demands very high resolution satellite images to map the alignment of canal network that varies as less as 50 cm and discriminate the breaks in canal network. Bhima lift irrigation scheme (Bhima LIS) in southern Indian state of Karnataka has been chosen for the present study. The study illustrates how the challenges encountered during monitoring of physical progress in Bhima LIS such as limitations of India’s Cartosat images were overcome using Pleiades satellite images and GIS tools of Google Earth. The present study then unravels the various short comings in the execution of canal network of Bhima LIS through use of RS and GIS techniques of Google Earth which could have been impossible with either field visits as well as Cartosat satellite images.

Keywords: Monitoring, irrigation potential, remote sensing, GIS, Google Earth, distributary