Earth Observations Based Assessment of Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Surface Water Quality of Buddha Nala, Punjab, India

Susanta Das,Antarpreet Jutla,Samanpreet Kaur

doi:10.3390/w13101363

Susanta Das, Antarpreet Jutla + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/w13101363

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Journal: Water	Publication Date: May 14, 2021
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Punjab Agricultural University, University of Florida

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) halted almost all the industrial scale anthropogenic activities across the globe, resulting in improvements in water and air quality of megacities. Here, using Sentinel-2A data, we quantified impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the water quality parameters in one of the largest perennial creeks i.e., the Buddha Nala located in District Ludhiana in India. This creek has long been considered as a dumping ground for industrial wastes and has resulted in surface and ground water pollution in the entire lower Indus Basin. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Normalized Difference Chlorophyll Index (NDCI), Nitrogen Content Index (NI), Normalized Difference Turbidity Index (NDTI), and Total Suspended Matter (TSM) were compared prior (2019) and during (2020) lockdown in the creek. There was a significant enhancement in NDVI, NDWI, NDCI, and NI values, and reduction in NDTI and TSM values during the lockdown period. When compared with prior year (2019), the values of indices suggested an improvement in water quality and an indicative change in aquatic ecology in the creek. The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the improvement in water quality of Buddha Nala was more evident in the upstream and downstream sections than the middle section. This is intriguing since the middle section of the creek was continually impacted by domestic household effluents. The earth observation inspired methodology employed and findings are testament to the discriminatory power to employ remote sensing data and to develop protocols to monitor water quality in regions where routine surveillance of water remains cost prohibitive.

Highlights

The devastating coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) was first reported in December2019 in Wuhan city, China [1,2] and has since spread in the entire world
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Nitrogen Content Index (NI), and Normalized Difference Chlorophyll Index (NDCI) were of lower values, while Normalized Difference Turbidity Index (NDTI) and Total Suspended Matter (TSM) was higher when
NDVI, NDWI, NI, and NDCI were of lower values, while NDTI and TSM was higher compared with values during the month of April and May 2020

Summary

Introduction

2019 in Wuhan city, China [1,2] and has since spread in the entire world. The World Health. Our region of interest is Buddha Nala, which is an important drainage line of Ludhiana district in Punjab, India (Figure 1), is a tributary of Sutlej River This creek was a source of clean water prior to rapid and uncontrolled industrialization along the banks of this creek. Over the years, it is severely contaminated by accumulating industry effluents, sewage, dairy, and domestic waste, before draining into the Sutlej River, while flowing through the highly populous industrial city of Ludhiana This contaminated water is being used by farmers to irrigate crops in this area and findings of several studies suggest accumulation of toxic metals in soils over a period of and uptake by crops that have resulted in high potential for phytotoxicity and an enhanced risk of entering into the food chain [27,28]. Ter pollution levels of Buddha Nala by analyzing the satellite data and temporal scales

Study Area

Materials andSentinel-2A

Estimation of Water Quality Indices

Discussions

Conclusions