Integrated Watershed Management in Rainfed Agriculture

A watershed is simply the geographic area through which water ows across the land and drains into a common body of water, whether a stream, river, lake, or ocean. The watershed boundary will more or less follow the highest ridgeline around the stream channels and meet at the bottom or lowest point of the land where water ows out of the watershed, the mouth of the waterway. Watersheds are important because the surface water features and stormwater runo- within a watershed ultimately drain to other bodies of water. It is essential to consider these downstream impacts when developing and implementing water quality protection and restoration actions. Management of the environment has been primarily focused on specic issues such as air, land, and water.