In order to achieve continuous sustainable development in a watershed, it is desired that natural resources such as water are assessed and utilized efficiently. Generally, water resources are assessed considering watershed as a unit. Since the water requirements and availability varies in space and time, it is desired to manage the water resources so as to satisfy the demand on sustainable basis. Further, in order to achieve sustainability, it is necessary to consider social, economic and environment aspects of water resources. However it is difficult to bring all these indicators on a single platform. In this study, a watershed sustainability index (WSI) which integrates the hydrology, environment, life and policy (HELP) has been suggested for Piperiya watershed in Chhattisgarh state of India. This watershed has an area of about 2400km2 and is part of Hasdeo river basin which is located in Koriya district of Chhattisgarh. Further, the majority of population in the area is tribal and illiterate. Providing safe and adequate water to the masses is a challenge in this area. The District has numerous hill ranges with rocky geological formation having steep slope. The district faces an acute water shortage for drinking as well as irrigation. Further, the area has number of coal mines and coal washing plants, which contaminate the surface water as well as groundwater. Thus, the availability of safe and fresh water is quite limited. It has been noticed that the WSI for this watershed is about 0.60, which is moderate level of sustainability. In order to improve the water sustainability in this watershed, a watershed management framework and its utilizationhas been elaborated.
