AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT - A CASE STUDY OF ARCGIS APPLICATION TO THE SKUDAI WATERSHED, MALAYSIA

Geographical Information System (GIS) is an effective tool for watershed management as it is compatible to take multiple factors into its aggregation process and produce a solution which is very close to the optimal utilization of land and water resources. GIS has the capability of producing land use maps for better visualization of watershed problems which significantly improve our understanding of the watershed. This paper also presents a literature review on applications of Geographical Information System (GIS) for watershed management and also presents preliminary results of its application in the Skudai watershed where the whole watershed has been delineated to diagnose land use issues in the Skudai watershed. With the application of GIS to the Skudai watershed, it was easy for us to identify the sub-watersheds within the Skudai watershed. A total of 25 sub-watersheds were identified. Suggesting a remedial measure to a particular watershed problem became easier for smaller scale watershed rather than exploring the whole Skudai watershed. We have shown major land-use patterns of each of the sub-watershed. Compare to previous understanding of land and water resources in the Skudai watershed, the GIS results have improved our understanding of the watershed issues in a better and transparent way.