Monitoring water resource degradation using multiple Imageries and techniques on watershed of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The resource basis for life and economic development are land and water. Severe stress and strain on water resources have caused watershed degradation. Eventual environmental and socio economic costs of sustaining watershed from the malaise need to be advanced. This paper targets advancing means to monitor so as to acquire level of watershed resources degrading using empirical data from satellite imageries. The watershed resource of Minna is assessed, land use impact mapped out from which resources damages unveiled and solutions to sustain the resources provided. The data used are as generated from digitally processed multispectral scanner MSS, thematic mapper TM, and landsat imageries of 1973, 1995 and 2007 as in Salawu (2010). By the use of ArcGIS Arc view and Idrisi software, watershed analysis was carried out. Based on land use categorization following the study made in Anderson, (1976), EOSAT (1992), Meyer (1995), and the subsequent data collection, processing and analysis, it was observed that watershed seriously reduced from 22.18% in 1995 to 12.12% in 2007. It was therefore concluded that lack of resources data, research and development have constitute the major problems of water resources management in Nigeria.