Status of Waterlogged Areas in Muktsar District of South-West Punjab Using Remote Sensing and GIS Technique

The extent of waterlogging and its effect on existing crop on each day of the monsoon or post monsoon season could be delineated using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS). The Muktsar district of south-west Punjab was selected for delineating waterlogged areas for the year 2006 and 2007 using Fast Colour Composite (FCC). The analysis was carried out using ESRI ArcMap 8.3 GIS software for the years 2006 and 2007. The Muktsar district falls in two scenes of IRS data used and both scenes were registered together. The district boundary and village boundaries of Muktsar district was then overlaid on the satellite data. The other information like settlements, major roads and major canals were interpreted and digitized. The FCC of IRS-P6 LISS-III satellite data for the date of pass 17 March 2006 and December 25, 2007 were prepared. The FCC was used to identify and demarcate the surface water logged areas. The total surface waterlogged area was demarcated estimated to be 2387.623 ha on 17 March 2006 and 1072.3083 ha on 25 December 2007 respectively using Remote sensing data. The increase in waterlogging has been analyzed about four times over a period of one year nine months. It was also found that the waterlogging predominantly follows a trend from northeEast to South-west of the state.