An Assessment of Impact of Land Use–Land Cover and Climate Change on Quality of River Using Water Quality Index

Abstract

AbstractGlobally rapid population, urbanization and industrialization are posing problems such as changes in the land use pattern and climate and contamination of surface waters. Land use changes have potentially large impacts on river water quality, e.g., adaptation of cropland to urban area, crop rotations, establishment of new industries, commercial and residential areas etc. Unplanned developments associated with land use change have notably influenced the river water quality. Further due to climatic changeability such as increased temperature, rainfall change affects surface water quality and aquatic environment. The purpose of this study is to analyze river water quality related to spatial land use in river basin using GIS analysis. To manage river water quality in the most effective and efficient way, the cause and effect relationship of the river basin must be identified. Water quality indices are an effective and easy assessment method to analyze the effect of land use and climate change on stream water quality. The present study focused on development of improved surface water quality indices considering various water quality parameters affected by land use–land cover and climate change scenarios. These indices will help to classify the river and will provide simple interpretation of the monitoring data to aid citizens and managers for decision making to improve river water quality.KeywordsLand use–land coverClimate changeWater quality indexRiver water quality