In September 2014, Kashmir witnessed a catastrophic flood resulting in a significant loss of lives and property. Such massive losses could have been avoided if any structural support such as dams were constructed in the Jhelum basin, which has a history of devastating floods. The GIS-based multicriteria analysis (MCA) model provided three suitability zones for dam locations. The final suitable dam sites were identified within the highest suitability zone based on topography (cross-sections), stream order, high suitable zone, minimum dam site interval, distance from roads, and protected area distance to the dam site. It was discovered that 10.98% of the total 4347.74 km² area evaluated falls in the high suitability zone, 28.88% of the area falls in the medium suitability zone, and 60.14% of the area falls in the low suitability zone. Within the study area, four viable reservoir sites with a holding capacity of 4,489,367.55 m³ were revealed.

The Kashmir Valley is immensely susceptible to soil erosion due to its diverse topography and unstable geological formations in the Himalayan region. The present study helps in assessing the spatial distribution and prioritizing soil erosion zones in the Central Kashmir region covering the Sindh and Dachigam catchments. The study implemented the GIS-based analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted sum method (WSM) using datasets of precipitation, geological map, soil map, and satellite imagery and derived eleven factors (topographical derivatives, LULC, soil, drainage, rainfall, lithology, wetness index and greenness of an area). The ratings and weightage were proven to be unbiased and reliable based on the observed value of the consistency ratio (C_R) (i.e., 0.07). The study depicts 41% of the total area to be extremely vulnerable to soil erosion. The slope varies from 0–62° with mean of 22.12°, indicating 467.99 km² (26%) and 281.12 km² (15%) of the area under high and very high susceptible zones, respectively. The ND_VI and ND_WI maps indicate soil erosion severity covering an area of 40% and 38%, respectively, in highly susceptible zones. High drainage density and curvature zones were observed in 18.33% and 22.64% of the study area, respectively. The study will assist in the planning and implementation of conservation measures.

In the present study, using static land system parameters, such as geomorphology, land cover, and relief, we calculated the water yield potential (RP) of all the watersheds of the Jhelum basin (Kashmir Valley) using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) based watershed evaluation model (AHP-WEM). The results revealed that among the 24 watersheds of the Jhelum basin, the Vishav watershed, with the highest RP, is the fastest water yielding catchment of the Jhelum basin followed by Bringi, Lidder, Kuthar, Sind, Madhumati, Rembiara, Sukhnag, Dal, Wular-II, Romshi, Sandran, Ferozpur, Viji-Dhakil, Ningal, Lower Jhelum, Pohru, Arin, Doodganga, Arapal, Anchar, Wular-I, Gundar, and Garzan in the case of a same intensity storm event. The results were validated with the mean annual peak discharge values of the watersheds and a strong positive correlation of 0.71 was found. Further, for the forecasting of the floods in the watersheds that had a small lag time, such as in the case of Vishaw, Bringi, and Lidder, we evaluated the performance of the HEC-GeoHMS hydrological model to simulate stream discharge during storm events. It was observed that the model performs well for August-September period with a strong positive correlation (0.94) between the observed and simulated discharge and hence could be used as a flood forecasting model for this period in the region.