Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
Proper distribution of water resources in rangelands causes uniform grazing and optimal use of rangeland. Knowledge of the present status of water resources in rangeland is important to achieve this goal. For this purpose, the drinking water resources for livestock in the steppe rangelands of Nodoushan, Yazd Province with an area of 114836 hectares were studied in 2013. During the field visits, the location of water resources was determined with GPS device. The base maps of available wells-springs and water reservoirs were produced in ArcGIS 9.3 software using these data. Then, the maps of grazing territory within the wells-springs and water reservoirs were produced. The areas which were not suitable for grazing, due to the water resources limitations, were determined by matching these two maps. According to the results, the area of available springs-wells and water reservoirs was calculated to be 75692 ha and 65259 ha, respectively. However, an area equal to 16703 ha of the study area is located far from water resources that is not currently available for grazing. In the study area, 33 water reserviors have been already established and 13 others are still needed to cover the whole are of rangeland for livestock grazing. Whereas, by a proper site selection, 20 water reserviors would be enough to cover the whole area and it should be taken into account for the development of water resources in rangelands.
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