Climate change impact on design and costing of soil and water conservation structures in watersheds

A study was carried out to determine the effect of climate change on design rainfall and its effect on design and costing of soil and water conservation structures in watersheds. For this study, the micro watershed located at Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Research Centre, Research farm, Vasad was selected and rainfall data from 1957 to 2012 was used. The analysis showed that as a result of climate change, there is significant increase in number of extremely heavy rainfall days as well as rainfall amount. The design rainfall of various soil and water conservation structures has increased by 11%, 30% and 38% for design of staggered contour trenches, contour bunds and check dams respectively. The cost of construction of staggered contour trenches, contour bunds and check dams in watersheds has increased by 26%, 28% and 12% respectively. This study reveals that, there is a need to account for design and costing of soil and water conservation structures in the light of the climate change and a relook into the watershed programmes of the central Gujarat region of India.