Site Suitability Analysis of Water Conservation Structures For Sub- Watershed in Ujjani Catchment, India – A Geospatial Approach A.A.Kulkarni 1* & Dr. S.P. Aggarwal 2 1 Civil Engineer, MWH India Pvt. Ltd., Pune, India 2 Scientist/Engineer, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, India * Amol.Kulkarni@mwhglobal.com ABSTRACT Water scarcity has been widely called the top global issue of concern in the coming century in developed and developing countries. India is one of the countries, which is facing severe water scarcity. This is an important problem on which both the governmental and non-governmental organizations are working hard to overcome. Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System can be used as the effective tools to manage the watersheds by means of finding the suitable sites for water conservation structures. This paper describes the geo-spatial technology used to find out suitable sites for check dams, percolations tanks and farm ponds in a small watershed of Ujjani catchment. Results will show the locations of suitable sites of these structures with respect to the drainage map. KEYWORDS: Water Conservation, Geospatial, Multi Criteria Analysis, INTRODUCTION Water is essential for all and is used in many different ways - for food production, drinking purpose, domestic uses and industrial use. It is also an integral part of the larger ecosystem. Precipitation, converted to soil moisture & groundwater and thus accessible to vegetation and people, is the dominant pre-condition for biomass production and social development in drylands. The amount of available water is equivalent to the water moving through the landscape. It also fluctuates between the wet and dry periods. (Sivanappan, 1997a). Water scarcity has been widely called the top global issue of concern in the coming century in developed and developing countries. (Kundzewicz, 1997; Rosegrant and Meinzen-Dick, 1996a; Rosegrant, 1997a). By 2025, it is estimated that between 46 and 52 countries, with an aggregate population of about 3 billion people, will suffer from water scarcity. Coping with water scarcity is compounded by soil degradation, groundwater depletion, water pollution, and the high costs of developing new water supplies or transferring water from water rich to water poor areas (Rosegrant, 1997b). Through watershed development we can recognize both the opportunities and limitations of water conservation through vegetative and structural measures. Current and expanding scarcities of land and water resources, and the human response to these scarcities, threaten sustainable development and represent paramount environmental issues for the 21st century (Rosegrant, 1997c; Rosegrant and Meinzen- Dick, 1996b). WEFTEC®.08 Copyright ©2008 Water Environment Federation. All Rights Reserved. 4399