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,C H A P T E R - I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 PREFACE

1.2 HYPOTHESIS

1.3 GEOGRAPHICAL SET-UP

1.4 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

1.5 PREVIOUS WORK

1.6 AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY

1.7 ' METHODOLOGY

1.8 PLAN OF THE THESIS

INTRODUCTION
1.1 PREFACE

The concept of a region has evoked more discussion or set in motion more
conflicting currents of opinion. The regions exist in the nature and 'that

the world can be easily marked off into such regions which are homogeneous

units as regards their natural built-up or cultural character or both. The

concept of a region has gone even further indeed and endowed their regions

with various qualities, ranging from the simple assertion that regions are

concrete unitary objects with strong individuality, and personality, through

the idea that they possess 'harmony and rhyphni1 to the extreme one that
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regions are organisms.

The regions are not given facts which can be discovered by research. For

purpose of study we have to demarcate different sections of the earth

according to the problem we Investigate,using suitable criteria."The questions

as to which criteria shall be chosen for determining regions likewise finds

no answer in the nature" says Hettner. The choice must be made by geogra­

pher according to his subjective judgement of their importance. There is

no universally valid division which does justice to all phenomena. One can

only endeavour to secure a division with the greatest possible advantages

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and the least possible disadvantages.

In planning for development, state, district or tahsil will not be considered

as a basic essential unit but an eco-system as a whole will be considered.
The community planning for development is an eco .-planning process which

gives due consideration to ecological values as well as economic values

of the ecofactors in the planning.The hydrological cycle is best understood

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with reference to a .single catchment basin. In the investigation of the problem

of flood,drainage, irrigation, and in the conservation of land and water resour­

ces, the geographers no less than engineers, consider the drainage basin

as a planning unit for environmental management. No other method *of delimi­

ting the boundaries of planning regions when such problems are being studied,

has been found to be scientifically satisfying. A river eco-system, therefore,

is an ideal unit for planning thon a state or tahsii.

The advantage of treating a drainage basin as a planning unit for environmen­

tal management, of course, lies in the facility with which the priciple of
hydrology and hydrometeorlogy can be applied to arrive at quantitative concl­

usions. The advantage to a geographer is the discordance, almost invariably,

between watershed and administrative boundaries, which however does not

always appear to be inseparable.

The idea of organisation of the river eco-system is, however, implicit in

many, river valley cultures, and it has well been said that the civilization
of India and elsewhere in the world began with organised water control in

the river basin.The advantage occuring from a successful river basin planning

for environmental management necessitates a revolution of geographical

content of the area concerned. For operating such scheme there have to

be a greater amount of planning, organisation and co-operation then, that,

usually obtains; thus foregoing ties which bind the various parts of drainage
basin into a concrete unit.

One may be permitted to anticipate some criticism of such an un-orthodox

concept of the region for regional development planning or for environmental

management. Critics, who will point out the essential dissimilarity between

the upper and lower parts of the basin in several respects, may be reminded
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that, if those parts lack. unity of form they are, nevertheless, integrated

at a higher level in syboitic unity; so to speak on an anology from biology.

Therefore the present planning units and the processes seem to be inadequate

to achieve the goals envisaged in the plan.A geographic unit with strong

integrity and homogeneity in its factors is necessary for planning, development

and management to fulfil the needs of the society by maintaining the ecologi­

cal balance in various ecological processes.

Thus an attempt is being made here in the following pages to carry out
thi^ a case study of Warana river basin. To reveal the terrain characteristics,

stages of evolution of basin, drainage patterns, rates of erosion and sediment­

ation and relief and slope characteristics by using geomorphological techniques;

These are supplimented by geological studies to evaluate the resource potential

of the basin. To reveal the possible future environmental impacts of various

developmental human activities to be proposed for ensuring optimum utilisation

of resources an environmental impact assessment is carried out.

1.2 HYPOTHESIS

All planning processes developed and implemented till recently were made

to be fitted in the jig-saw puzzel of the existing administrative sectors

like tahsil, district etc. which have been creating specific political motivation

that was prevailing in their regime ; instead of natural homogeoneous units

like river basin eco-system. In the present planning system a river valley

is divided into different talukas or districts or states taking river as a conve­

nient boundary. Thus a natural homogeneous eco-system is bifurcated and
attached to different parts of different eco-systems; which normally fail

to catch the geomorphological and environmental character of the area and

misses the much requisite aspect of balanced ecological development. As
a result of this, one can observe a funny situation developed in many river

eco-systems. Therefore, a planning exercise must take into account the physi­

cal, social, economic and ecological components of the river basin eco-system

The geomorphology of a river basin eco-system is a function of climatological

and geological environments of the region. The lithology and the geological

strutures govern by the stream courses which further control the process

of weathering and erosion. The climatological factors like temperature,rainfall

and wind regulate flow of water, sediment drains and the energy cycles

of the river basin eco-system.It is therefore hypothesised that eco-geomorpho-

logical view point for socio-economic planning of a region would be more

apt , as this way of dealing with the physical and human resources would

lead to optimum and proper use of them.

1.3 GEOGRAPHICAL SET-UP

River Warana is one of the important right bank tributaries of mighty river
Krishna. It originates in the Sahyadri range, the western ghats near Patharpunj
plateau in Patan taluka of Satara district and joins the major river Krishna

at Haripur near Sangli after traversing a length of 149 Kms. The Warana

river basin is an inter district basin spreading between Sangli and Kolhapur

districts.

River Kadavi and river Morana are two important tributaries of river Warana.
The river Warana arises in Sahyadri near Prachitgad at an altitude of 914
M. and runs eastward to meet Krishna at an altitude of 548 M. The river
Kadavi is easterly flowing tributary which arises in' Sahyadri at an altitude

700.79 M. near village Amba and flows for about 35.40 km. and joins river

Warana near Sagaon. River Kadavi flows parallel to the river Warana. It

possesses two tributaries the Shali and Ambardi.

Morana river Is another important tributary of Warana river on its left

f!ank.Thls tributary rises from a place very near to the ' Dhamanwada

hill-knot' near Kondaiwadi village and flow between southerly and south

easterly trending spurs. River Morana flows for about 27.35 kms and meets

Warana near village Mangle. v

The entire basin possesses a complex topography and bears a transitional

character between the Konkan on the west and the Deccan plateau on

the east. The eastern part of the basin is comparatively less rugged than

western part and possesses flat rolling topography. The basin comes in the
rainshadow zone of the western ghats and bears a temperature climate

with three distinct seasons, Monsoon fcainy), winter and summer.(Maharashtra

State Gazetteers, Kolhapur District - Revised Edition 1960.) The rivers

receive water only in the monsson period hence they are non-perennial.

The geodetic location of the Warana basin is on the north western part
of the deccan shild. The latitudinal and longitudinal extension of the entire
basin is from 16°47'00"N to 17015'15nN and 73°30'45"E to 74°30'00"E

respectively. The total length of the basin is 149 kms and average width

is 21 kms. The total area of the basin is 2095.59 kms. The basin is

comprised of eight talukas viz. Shirala, Walwa, Miraj of Sangli District

and Shahuwadi, Panhala, Hatkanangale and Shirol tahsils of Kolhapur district

and Patan Taluka of Satara district. The villages are connected by metelled

and jordlnary district roads and village roads. There is no railway line and .
aerodrome within the basin. The nearest railway-stations for the basin are

Kolhapur, Miraj and Sangli.

1.4 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

In warana river basin one major, two medium and many minor irrigation
projects are under construction. The major Warana irrigation project of34
TMC is under construction at Chandoli on Warana river.Out of the two mediun

projects one is at village Altur on Kadavi river and another at Shirala on

Morana river. The major project is going to submerge sixteen villages and

distituting 4730 souls. The land of command area of major project comes

in the present study region and neighbouring Krishna and Panchaganga river

basins irrigating on both flanks. The water circulation systems of canals

and lift irrigation are planned on traditional concepts of agricultural develop­

ment. The experiences gained from other dam projects e.g. Aswan Dam

on Nile suggest that the human interference in the natural river system

creats many- environmental problems which further lead to failure of the .

total projects with unrepairable damages in natural systems.

A river basin is a homogeneous geomorphic unit carved by the streams thems­

elves. The dynamic processes acting in the basin follow a particular set
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of laws of thermodynamics. The gemorphometric techniques help in finding

the relationships between the various parameters of the drainage basin. The
knowledge of the geomorphic character of the basin is essential for scientific
planning and management of the watershed or river basin. If the concept

of the watershed management is applied to present study region many enviro­

nmental problems which are likely to crop-up in near future, due to construc­

tion of an Irrigation dam project and other human activities Interferring

the natural dynamic systems could be avoided. Thus an attept, is necessary

to prepare a 'Spatial Model' for environmental planning and management

of a river basin or watershed unit.

1.5 PREVIOUS WORK

Since long back geo morphologists have been studying the dynamics of the
river system. Horton (1932,1945) contributed a new quantitative approach

to the study of watersheds. Some type of quantitative techniques were developecj

to study the various aspects of the drainage basin by Bauling (1926,1935);

Sebum (1954,1956) ; Melton (1964), Chorley (1957) and Strahler (1952,1957,1968).

The Contribution made by these scientists have given rise to the science

of regime of rivers.
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Maddock and Leopold (1953) firstly considered that the river and the landscape

upon which it flows a dynamic system with several aspects. King (1966,1967)
supported this system approach and suggested that it helps in explaining

a dynamic interrelatedness of factors affecting flow in streams, their channels

and enclosing canyons. Recently man has been heavily interferring this dynamic
system of river by constructing dams, weirs or changing ifs physical character
and even direction of flow for navigation and power generation or using

it as a sewer for waste and effluent disposal. Such human interferences

created serious problems. Particularly the impacts of dam are much conspicu­

ous and of multifolded. Whclman (1964), Curry and Wahrhattigs (1967), Linken

et.al. (1970), Fisher et.al. (1968), Bormann (1969) have studied the river

basin systems to find out the impacts of human i n terferrence on the process
-es of sedimentation, water chemistry and effects on aquatic life. Keller

and Wert (1953) have been effected of deforestation oil Potomac river basin.
Abdin (1948), Brook and Rzoska (1954) have studied the impacts of Aswan

and other dams on Nile river.T.Blench (1971) have studied the changes in

morphometric characters of the rivers due to human interferrence in its

natural dynamic processes.

UNESCO (1962) called an attention of world scientists on the occasion of

the International Hydrology Decade to the human impacts on the continental
waters. Again in 1964 with the commencement of IHD imphasis was given

on watershed management. In June 1971 , North Eastern division of American

Fisheries Society held an International symposium on "river ecology and

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the impact of man" at Univerity of Massachusetts. A valuable proceeding

‘ of the symposium entitled "River Ecology and Man " edited by Oglesby,
Carlson and McCann has been published in book form in which case studies

of different river basins of the world are given.A similar publication entitled

"River Ecology" editd by B.A. Whitton is also devoted to same subject.

In India similar studies are being carried out with respect of various dam

projects by Government agencies, research institutes and universities. Mukhopa-

dhyay (1980) has published a book entitled "Gemorphology of Subarnarekha

basin of Chhota Nasgpur Plateau, of eastern India ". The upper Krishna basin
has also been studied by many workers from the view point of different

aspects. Pawar has studied, the impact of irrigation in upper Krishna basin.

Umerikar (1983) has studied the quaternary geology of upper Krishna basin.

The Botany Depatement of Shivaji University, Kolhapur has studied soil salinity

of upper Krishna basin. And the post-graduate Department of Pollution,

Science College , Karad has studied the chemistry of the Krishna river water
in its upper reaches to find out the causes of salt-built up In the basin.

In the National Seminar on "Ground Water and Lift Irrigation "(1978), Azer

Ansari, P.K. Midha and K.S. Das of ,CWPRS, Poona have presented a paper

entitled "Geophysical investigation for Lift Irrigation Project on the Yerala

River, Dist.Sangli, Maharashtra State ". But no work has been carried out

so far, on the Warana River basin considering it as a system. So this is the

first attempt of ecomorphological analysis of this river basin system and

a study in regional development.

1.6 AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY

The important aim of the present study is to understand the gpomorphological,

ecological and geological character of Warana river basin ecosystem and
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its use In the planning of physical and human resources of the basln.The

specific points of interest are as follows :

1. To study the geomorphological and geological features of the basin.

2. To determine the stages of evolution of main Warana valley and it's

tributary valleys with the help of application of morphometric techniques.

3. To survey and estimate the potential resources of the river basin

ecosystem.

4. To study the landuse capability classification and to prepare the map

of the same for the entire basin.

5. To study the trends and changes in landuse patterns and agricultural

practices and relation to basin environment.

6. To evaluate the possible environmental impacts of human activities

like construction of irrigation dam projects, deforestation activities,

installation of sugar and other factories, population displacement and

growth.

7. To identify the areas of interestice in relation to afore said hypothesis.

8. To prepare a ideal 'Spatial Model' for environental planning and manage­

ment of Warana river basin eco-system.

1.7 METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted for the present research work includes filed work,

laboratory work and cartography. The present research work is divided into

two parts :(1) The collection of essential data (2)Analysis and interpretation
of the data. The first hand data are obtained by field observations,collection

of samples, laboratory investigations. To cover the field observations and

collection of samples the author participated in the Warana river valley

expedition conducted by River Valley Expedition and Research Society of

India, Sangli-Miraj from 16th November 1982 to 25 th November 1982
(Vide Appendix'A'). The secondary data are obtained from various Government

Departments .through interviews of the concerned officials and from various

reports, research papers, books and periodicals.

The Warana river basin is divided into two divisions for convenience of the

collection and analysis of ‘the data. These divisions correspond to two flanks

of the Warana river. In all, 20 representative sub-basins are selected for

detailed investigations from these two divisions.

The investigations are carried out on the following points :

i) The morphometric and geo-morphologic studies,

ii) The general geological studies,

iii) The environmental impact assessment (ETA) and preparartons 6f environ­

mental impact statement(E/S),

* *•

iv) Preparation of Spatial Model for environmental planning and management

of river basin eco-system for regional development.

The methods which are used for gemorphological, geological and morphometric

analysis and environmental analysis are discussed in detail in respective chapt­

ers. The data obtained from these exercises are applied to prepare a spatial

development plan for the environmental management of Warana river basin.

The predictive model can be used as a fascimile at other places with similar

environmental and ecological set-ups or even it can help to prepare a separate

model as per local situations on the basis of eco-morphological analysis of

the region with proper modifications.

1.8 PLAN OF THE THESIS '

The passage of the thesis can be described in four divisions. The first and

foremost division is concerned with introduction. The second division deals

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with the data collection regarding various environmental factors of the basin.

The third division is devoted to application of geomorphometric and environm-

i

ental techniques for analysing and assessing the characters of various factors

of the basin eco-system. The fourth and last part of the thesis comprises

case-studies, building of spatial model for regional planning and conclusion

and suggestions derived from the study.

The first division covers preface of the thesis in which the concept of a
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river basin as a planning unit is expressed. The hypothesis of the thesis

makes it clear that the river basins are homogeneous natural units which

should be considered for developmental planning. Then this part is extended

for regional set-up, problem statement and the previous work. Then the

aim of study and methodology used for the research work is expressed and

lastly the plan of the thesis.The second part is devoted to physical and human

environmental factors like landforms, drainage pattern, geology,climate, water,

soil, vegetation livestock and human resources, land use and cropping pattern,
industries, transport and communication and energy sources. The complexity

of the gemorphic character of the basin Is reflected in various landforms

and drainage patterns. The conspicuous geounits are main divides, plateaus,

escarpments, piedmont slopes forming a typical Mai topography that rolls

down in the valley from high main divides of the basin. In the drainage

pattern the most peculier is the dentritic and parallel through out the course.

The geology of the region is not much complicated since almost the whole
basin is covered with basalt lava flows of Deccan Traps. Most of the geophe-

nomenona are studied to establish the relation between topography, drainage

pattern, slope categories, erosional and depositional processes in the basin.

The data collected about other physical factors like climate, water, soil,
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vegetation, land and cropping patterns,live stock, population, industries,

transportation and communication facilities and energy resources are depicted

in the work to reveal the present state of physical and cultural environments

in the basin. Various techniques are employed to obtain correct information

about resource potentials of the basin. More emphasis is given to the study

of water and soil resources of the basin.

The third division of the thesis is spared for morphometric and environmental

studies of various aspects of the basin environment. The form and process

of drainage basin are related to its drainage network, intensity of dissection,

basin geometry and altimatric characters. These various aspects of the

drainage basin are analysed quantitatively by numerical analysis techniques

generally known as morphometric analysis. The product-moment-correlation,

coefficients, stream profile analysis, altimatric frequency analysis, Strahlers

hypsometric integrals and slope altitude relationships are applied to find

out the evolution of stage of the basin. The river is in maturity stage

and is tending to approximates its present local baselevel of erosion. The

upper reaches are erosional and the lower reaches are depositional.

As per systems approach the Warana river basin is considered as a human

eco-system within which the human community exchanges energy, materials

and information with one another and also with their physical environment.

To find out the present state of environment the environmental Impact

assessment is carried out of four major human activities in the basin i.e.
(i)The Warana Irrgation Dam ( a major project), (ii) Deforestation, (iii) Existing

agro industries and (iv) The population growth in the basin. On the basis

of this, environmental impact assessment is prepared which is further used

as a base to build a spatial model for the basin.

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A specific environmental planning and management strategy is proposed

for achieving the state of optimum utilization of ecofactors for proper

economic and ecological development of the basin. The land capability

classification is carried out on the basis of eco-geomorphological analysis

of the basin. The traditional agricultural crops which are very poor in yield

are suggested to be replaced by high yielding varieties of plants and grasses

to get more bio-productivity as well as economic benefits by interferring

least in natural processes of soil and other environmental factors of the

basin.

The whole study leads to form a concrete proposal of environmental planning

and management strategies which if implemented on the scientific lines

suggested in this research work will help in developing the river basin

ecosystems without disterbing its ecological balance which will also lead

to create developing, productive and self-reliant human society.