Omega Scientific Publishers, New Delhi. 2001, pp 232. Rs 450/US $35 (Hardcover)

It is a comprehensive book, which provides a detailed and clear understanding of the execution process of a watershed project through a technical and social perspective. The author has been successful in highlighting the details, which need to be looked into before and while executing a watershed project.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part looks into physical and engineering aspects of a watershed. The introductory chapter describes the basic concept of watershed and provides an overview of all the areas, which need to be understood before taking up the execution work. Chapters on hydrology, geohydrology provides adequate information on rain, groundwater and their related aspects. The author has made a successful attempt in furnishing technical details, which is easy to comprehend. Other technical issues for instance, soil and capability class, soil and water conservation practice, water retention structures and afforestation in watersheds are dealt in successive chapters. Some more figures and photographs in chapters like soil and water conservation practice and water retention structures could have been included. The second part of the book deals with project formulation its implementation and management. This section has highlighted all the crucial phases of a watershed project. Phases like project formulation and management, development of project proposals, implementation strategy and an overview of watershed management in India have been covered. The information given in this section should have been a little more exhaustive.