To Study the Hydrological System and Watershed by Using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) in Kannad Taluka, Aurangabad District, MS, India

e current study in this research focuses on the importance of the digital elevation model (DEM) and satellite images to evaluate and interpret the relative parameters of watersheds in Kannad taluka, Aurangabad district, India. Watersheds in the area were identied and calculated using the SRTM DEM through ARCGIS 10.8 software. Kannad shows a rst to fourth-order drainage network which is of dendritic type, which indicates a sign of the structural lack of control and homogeneity of the watersheds in Kannad taluka. e basin’s mean bifurcation ratio is found to be 1.47 which indicates that the drainage network pattern is not much inuenced by geological structures. Based on the hydrological assessment on the watershed scale, the present study reveals that the SRTM DEM is the most accurate application compared to other techniques. As visual or manual identication and evaluation are dicult and may not provide a holistic view of watersheds, modern tools of RS and GIS were used to study the watershed of Kannad taluka. ere was lack of published reports on watersheds by using the RS and GIS and work undertaken.


Introduction
Natural and social processes in a watershed are complex, dynamic, and vary spatially, making them di cult to investigate and comprehend [1]. Expansion of activities in the watershed will inevitably intrude on natural resources. A watershed's land use shift is caused by a variety of reasons. e social and economic changes in society residing in an area have implications for the demographic changes [2]. Land use (LU) changes, in general, reduce natural open spaces and enhance impervious surfaces such as parking lots and roadways [3]. Increased impermeable surfaces make a watershed more hydrologically active, causing changes in stream ow and runo volume, as well as an increase in peak discharge, all of which change the watershed's hydrology [4]. Increased quick runo exacerbates a watershed's ooding problem (USDA, 2000). Drought and ooding are becoming an issue in the watershed as communities and development activities grow. Storm water runo should be reduced as much as possible, according to expert planners of natural resource [5]. As there is lack of holistic information about watershed from Kannad taluka from Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, India, it is very di cult to predict the nature of surface runo and the presence of ood or drought in an area. Changes in land use a ect hydrological factors such as interception, in ltration, evaporation, and transpiration, which have an impact on the local ecology [6]. e digital elevation model (DEM) is the dataset for various studies that include morphometric, neotectonic, and hydrologic studies [7][8][9][10][11]. Water resource system, design, planning, and management require systematic knowledge of the operations of watershed subsystems [12]; hence, the present work of detailed hydrological systems has been undertaken in Kannad taluka, which is supported by computer-based watershed models [13]. Hydrologic modelling, which deals with water flow and land surfaces, is seen to be a useful tool for dealing with the effects of an LULC change [14]. Using the GIS, a novel distributed hydrologic model has been built that can encompass the physical properties of a watershed as opposed to traditional lumped hydrologic models [15]. In a hydrologic model, defining physical characteristics for a watershed produces more exact and dependable results. Physical parameter derivation for distributed runoff modelling has recently improved, thanks to simple access to spatial geographical and meteorological data as well as GIS tools as an interface [16]. Recently, easy access to spatial geography and rainfall-runoff modelling has provided information on the varied nature of hydrological processes in the Kannad taluka watershed, which will aid in monitoring and predicting their effects on people and property. is would aid in the mitigation of a potential disaster in the vicinity of the watershed by disseminating information. It will also offer data on the pattern of land use/land cover (LULC) changes as well as their involvement in initiating the hydrological process. Overall, it would aid decision-makers in developing more sustainable watershed planning, as well as improving watershed management policies and their implementation in the Kannad taluka watershed. Watershed management approaches that are poor and unsustainable are often the result of lack of understanding of the subsystems that make up the watershed.
is can result in a variety of environmental challenges that affect humans, ultimately influencing the watershed's socioeconomic aspects [17][18][19]. Watershed models can show major hydrologic parameters in many watershed systems despite the complexity and many uncertainties in hydrological processes [1]. Modelling is no longer limited to describing physical processes due to advancements in data gathering, remote sensing imagery, and computational capacity [9]. It also depicts a watershed's relationship with its socioeconomic and environmental context, which is critical for planning and management decision-making. e usage of the SRTM DEM, satellite images, and GIS analysis was used to conduct a hydrological study of watersheds and their morphometric evaluation in Kannad watershed, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, for water resource management. e primary goal of this research is to examine and identify numerous drainage factors in order to better understand the geometry of the watershed. is was carried out by using ARC GIS 10.8 version and by using the DEM. e input of the DEM followed by fill dam, flow direction-stream order, and delineation of the watershed from the stream network has been undertaken. e output in the form of the watershed is going to provide a good tool to conserve and manage the water resource by sustainable way. e findings of this study can serve as a scientific database for further detailed hydrological investigation and the identification of alternative water harvesting solutions in the study area through the construction of various suitable structures.

Study Area
Kannad is a taluka from the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state, India, which was selected as a study area for the study of change in land use and land cover. It is a part of Marathwada region located 53 km 2 towards north from district headquarters, i.e., Aurangabad.
Kannad taluka is bounded by Khultabad and Phulambri talukas towards south, Chalisgaon taluka towards north, Sillod taluka towards east, and the part of Gangapur taluka towards west. Chalisgaon, Talode, Aurangabad, and Pachora cities are the nearby cities to Kannad. Kondbari is the smallest village, whereas Shafepur is the biggest village in taluka. It has 352 m elevation (altitude) from the mean sea level having some part hilly terrain region. e location map of the study area is shown in Figure 1.
e soil type of Kannad taluka is shallow black soil cover followed by medium deep black soil and deep black soil. Most of the part of Kannad taluka is having hilly terrain; hence, it is very vulnerable soil due to the velocity of water runoff and which might result in high erosion of top soil during heavy rainfall. e soil erosion might affect the productivity of the agricultural system in the region. e present vegetation cover is a natural factor controlling the soil erosion. Hence, the Kannad taluka's soil erosion study is found to be very important along with the change in vegetation cover. e Kannad taluka consists of an area of 1523.23 km 2 having about 197 villages.

Database Sources
Input data and their types and their sources are shown in Table 1.

Methodology
To carry out the watershed delineation, the DEM was used with ArcGIS 10.8 software by using the flowchart as shown in Figure 2.

Preprocessing of the Terrain.
Using a revised DEM produced with ArcGIS 10.8, Kannad taluka was demarcated. e DEM and the stream network are the input files, with the DEM being reconditioned to improve agreement between defined stream networks and watershed bins. Fill, flow direction, flow accumulation, stream definition, stream segmentation, catchment grid delineation, catchment polygon processing, drainage, contour line, hillshed, aspect, precipitation, and slope grid were all included in the preprocessing of the DEM in ArcGIS 10.8. All of these stages ( Figure 2) were applied to the reconditioned DEM in order to improve the accuracy of Kannad watershed delineation using stream networks.

Results and Discussion
e most significant activity in agriculture, especially in dryland agriculture, is watershed management. It 2 Advances in Agriculture contributes more to the conservation of runo water from various sources. e primary source of water in the watershed is rainwater harvesting. e gathered water is utilised to irrigate crops in dry areas that are under water stress.
It is also used as supplemental irrigation or lifesaving irrigation for a variety of agricultural crops. Watershed management has become increasingly vital and necessary in order to protect crops from numerous pressures that occur during the growing season. e ecosystem is declining these days as a result of reduced forest area, increased soil erosion, decreased soil ground water table, increased drought intensity, and degradation of dryland soils.

Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
. DEM stands for digital elevation model, and it is a data le that depicts the elevation of the earth's surface in three dimensions. Readings can be taken from a speci c spot on the earth's surface using the points that have been placed there [20]. e distance between each point is calculated using latitude-longitude or the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system, in which case, the closer the points are to one other, the more information we can extract [21]. e production model depicts the di erence in height of an area, the distance between points, or distance intervals for data collection that must be performed nearer or closer to avoid error and maintain data accuracy [21]. DEM les can be created in ASCII or the binary format [22]. As a result, the le's real     format must be known in order to read it directly. A reference location is usually provided in the le name at some point in the map le. is le only provides the actual value of z (height) and does not include the real geographical location of that point. Using software that can read DEM le headers, the real location linked with elevation data can be discovered. DEM les also include information such as roads and buildings, but they do not include elevation contours; instead, they merely include the elevation value at a given area on a single grid point [23]. Digital elevation model (DEM) data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) with a horizontal grid spacing of 1 arc-second (resolution of 30 m) were downloaded from the URL: https://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/. It has a geographic projection with WGS84 (World Geodetic System, 1984). e data were utilised to extract the basin's topological characteristics. In ArcGIS 10.8, the SRTM DEM of the Kannad taluka basin was mosaicked and clipped to the basin boundary. e DEM was classi ed into six classes, whereas the result showed that the lowest value (red color) was 320-390 m and the highest value (blue color) was 780-950 m as shown in Figure 3. e map of the SRTM digital elevation model for Kannad taluka has been classi ed into seven classes, whereas the result showed that the lowest value (red color) was 315-405.86 m and the highest value (blue color) was 860.14-951 m as shown in Figure 4.

Contour Lines.
Contour lines are the most common way to describe the surface of a landscape. Contour lines implicitly preserve the topology of the earth's surface in addition to representing its geometry. To illustrate their height, elevation values are frequently provided as text descriptions on topographic maps. Furthermore, spot altitudes, which appear as a dot or a cross at a given horizontal place, are available. ey are employed in this context to indicate notable natural features on a dominant region, such as hilltops, knolls, isolated summits, mountaintops, mountain passes, saddles, and other high points. Figure 5 shows a contour map of the watershed. Because the watershed is tiny but mountainous, the contours owing across it range from 350 to 950 metres. e watershed's water divisions are primarily mountainous.

Aspects.
e aspect map shows a mountain slope's general orientation. An elevation map is an important tool for understanding the e ect of the Sun on the microclimate of a speci c place. e aspect map has a considerable impact on the distribution of vegetation types in a given area. e display map derived from the SRTM DEM represents the side's compass direction. East-facing slopes in Kannad taluka watershed have more moisture content and more vegetation than west-facing slopes ( Figure 6).

Soil.
Heavy clay soils with a signi cant concentration of swelling clays are churned by vertisols. When these soils dry out, which happens most years, deep wide fractures form from the surface downward. Vertisols (from the Latin word "vertere," which means "to turn") refer to the ongoing internal rotation of soil particles. e soil map created by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) categorization

Advances in Agriculture
system was utilised in this study. Clay is the most common soil type in the Kannad, but clay-loam soil is also found in some areas [24]. Figure 7 depicts a soil categorization map for Kannad taluka. Table 2 shows soil classi cations and their percentage in the study area.

Flow
Direction. e corrected DEM (also known as the hydro-DEM) created in the preceding phase was utilised to determine the sharpest downward ow direction from each cell. is function generates ow direction codes for each cell using the D8 model, which speci es that, for each

Flow Accumulation.
e accumulated ow is calculated using the weight of all cells owing into each downslope cell in the output raster using the ow accumulation tool. If no weight raster is speci ed, each cell is given a weight of 1, and the number of cells that ow into each cell equals the value of cells in the output raster. From the ow direction grid, this function generates the ow accumulation grid. is function can be used to determine the upstream drainage area of a cell (Figure 9).

Stream Network.
e stream within the study area forms the watershed and assembles a network of interconnected streams that lead to the outlet. e drainage system for the watershed is made up of streams. Drainage density, de ned as the ratio of the total length of streams to the total area of watersheds, is used to evaluate drainage systems. A watershed with a high drainage density is well drained, and the opposite is true. Furthermore, the degree of watershed drainage is determined by the stream frequency, which is de ned as the ratio of the total number of streams to the watershed area. Dendritic drainage is present in the watershed ( Figure 10). A stream of the rst order is 84.09 kilometer long, whereas streams of the second, third, and fourth orders are 44.75, 19.35, and 16.27 kilometer long, respectively (Table 3). e high bifurcation ratio, ranging from 1.734 to 2.017, indicates that the area is highly fragmented. e basin's mean bifurcation ratio is found to be 1.47. is suggests that structural disturbances have not had e ect on the basin's drainage pattern. Table 1 displays the total length (L t ), mean length (L m ), and length ratio (R l ) of the Kannad basin's various stream orders. e form factor (F f ) of the Kannad taluka basin is 0.054, indicating that the length of the main stream and the combined lengths of streams of lower orders are signi cantly di erent. e watershed's low drainage density (D d ) in Kannad taluka (0.11) indicates that it is made up of permeable subsurface material, good vegetative cover, and low relief, resulting in greater in ltration capacity in the watershed. e frequency (F s ) value reveals a positive relationship between the drainage density in the basin and the number of streams,  showing that, as the drainage density rises, so does the number of streams. e basin's measured F s of 0.004 shows a positive relationship with the area drainage density value, indicating that increased drainage density leads to an increase in stream population (Table 3).

Slope.
e term "slope" refers to a surface with one end or side that is higher than the other. It is a critical factor in determining the rate at which water mixes with soil and contributes to soil erosion. e vulnerability of soil erosion has been assessed using the slope of the surface in this model.   Advances in Agriculture e SRTM DEM was used to generate the data. Soil erosion is less common on very soft slopes, while soil erosion is more common on steep slopes. Slope is a crucial consideration for determining the terrain's nature. e degree of slope a ects the command area's drainage characteristics and soil erosion. As shown in Table 4, the slope map has been further divided into several slope classes ( Figure 11).

Watershed.
A watershed is a small area with a wellde ned borderline that drains rainwater into a single outlet. A watershed encompasses a variety of natural resources such as soil, water, and natural vegetation within its boundaries.
ere is also a stream system in place to drain the rainwater. e drainage system of a watershed is often known as the stream network. A gauged watershed is one that has hydrological parameters such as rainfall, runo , and others that have been measured. Hydrological input data are critical for watershed hydrological studies. Shape, size, morphology, and other characteristics di er from one watershed to the next. Figure 12 depicts a view of the watershed.

Conclusion
e hydrological analysis demonstrates that the drainage network of the Kannad watershed is of the dendritic type, indicating homogeneity and reduction in the structural control, which aids in understanding topographical characteristics such as runo and in ltration amplitude. It is possible to identify and understand terrain parameters such as in ltration capacity, bedrock, and surface runo using a digital elevation model (DEM), a geographic information system, and remote sensing data, which aid in understanding the nature of the land for drainage management and the development of groundwater capabilities in order to plan watershed management in the region. e high bifurcation ratio, ranging from 1.734 to 2.017, indicates that the area is highly fragmented. e basin's mean bifurcation ratio is found to be 1.47. is suggests that structural disturbances have had no e ect on the basin's drainage pattern. e form factor (F f ) of the Kannad taluka basin is 0.054, indicating that the length of the main stream and the combined lengths of streams of lower orders are signi cantly di erent. e watershed's low drainage density (D d ) in Kannad (0.11) indicates that it is made up of permeable subsurface material, good vegetative cover, and low relief, resulting in greater in ltration capacity in the watershed. ough the most part of Kannad taluka is hilly region predicting high surface runo from the study area, because of vegetation cover, it displays a moderate ow rate, and at barren land, it shows comparatively high surface runo . is study is useful for the development of natural water resource management in the protected forest area and useful for inhibiting wildlife in an area.

Data Availability
e data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article.

Conflicts of Interest
e authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.