Watershed management training concludes

Dimapur, March 16 (EMN): A two-day training and workshop on “Hydro-meteorological monitoring and watershed management” concluded on March 16 at department of land resources’ resource centre, Ruzaphema, Dimapur. The training was organised by the land resources department in collaboration with University of Minnesota and Mississippi watershed management organisation, USA.

On March 16, Dr. Udai B Singh, director of water resource Mississippi watershed management organisation, Minneapolis, along with the director of land resources department, T Renben Lotha, installed two manual rain gauges at the resource centre. He demonstrated to the participants how to measure the amount of rainfall.

Dr. Singh donated one rain gauge instrument brought from USA to the resource centre. He said the rain gauge was a gift from the Mississippi watershed management organisation, USA.

Later, the participants were taken to another field visit at Chathe River where Dr. Joseph Magner, research professor, department of bio-products and bio-systems engineering, University of Minnesota, USA, demonstrated how to prevent soil erosion on the river bank by placing boulders in the river. According to Dr. Magner, placing boulders in the river in a specific order would reduce the water current thus minimising water pressure hitting the river bank. He also spoke about the need for community participation in carrying out such activities.

At the river, Dr. Singh demonstrated the method of measuring water flow, its speed and depth.

In the last session, Andrew Jenks, researcher 5 from department of forest resources, college of food, agricultural and natural resource sciences, University of Minnesota, spoke on the importance of drone in watershed management systems. He taught the participants on the use a drone in watershed managements for acquiring proper data.

Other topics covered on the last day included “Different land capability classification for effective watershed management,” “Different intervention measures for watershed management vis-a-vis Nagaland geomorphology,” and “Demonstration on application of drones in watershed management.”

The training was attended by representatives from land resource, soil and water conservation, ICAR, water resources, Northeast initiative development agency and forest departments.