Selection of Suitable Sites for Water Harvesting Structures in a Flood Prone Area Using Remote Sensing and GIS – Case Study

Water harvesting structures are extremely important to conserve precious natural resource like soil and water which is deteriorating due to the uncontrolled flood flushes that caused damages, in time where it could be very useful if suitable technical methods were applied to keep it. Check dams are one of these structures that could be very useful if certain conditions were available in the flood area. In this study Ali Al Gharbi which is located in the southeast part of Iraq near to the Iraqi- Iranian borders, is chosen as an area that suffered from frequently flood flushes that come from the Iranian land. Those floods damaged all the infrastructures like bridges, roads and also the farms and villages in its way. Remote sensing and GIS technologies were the appropriate tools to choose the suitable sites for check dams in the area. The various thematic maps such as Land use, Drainage, HSG, Slope and DEM maps were prepared for selecting suitable sites for construction of check dams. Four check dams and four percolation tanks were proposed for the construction that may serve the purpose of soil and water conservation to help in sustainable development of the catchment area. The proposed check dams can be very useful to supply water for irrigation in dry seasons. Keywords: Water harvesting, Check dams, Ali Al Gharbi, Missan Governorate, GIS, Floods, Remote sensing