Abstract
Rapid changes in land use and land cover pattern have exerted an irreversible change on different natural resources, and water resources in particular, throughout the world. Khambhat City, located in the Western coastal plain of India, is witnessing a rapid expansion of human settlements, as well as agricultural and industrial activities. This development has led to a massive increase in groundwater use (the only source of potable water in the area), brought about significant changes to land management practices (e.g., increased fertilizer use), and resulted in much greater amounts of household and industrial waste. To better understand the impacts of this development on the local groundwater, this study investigated the relationship between groundwater quality change and land use change over the 2001–2011 period; a time during which rapid development occurred. Water quality measurements from 66 groundwater sampling wells were analyzed for the years 2001 and 2011, and two water quality indicators (NO3− and Cl− concentration) were mapped and correlated against the changes in land use. Our results indicated that the groundwater quality has deteriorated, with both nitrate (NO3−) and chloride (Cl−) levels being elevated significantly. Contour maps of NO3− and Cl− were compared with the land use maps for 2001 and 2011, respectively, to identify the impact of land use changes on water quality. Zonal statistics suggested that conversion from barren land to agricultural land had the most significant negative impact on water quality, demonstrating a positive correlation with accelerated levels of both NO3− and Cl−. The amount of influence of the different land use categories on NO3− increase was, in order, agriculture > bare land > lake > marshland > built-up > river. Whereas, for higher concentration of Cl− in the groundwater, the order of influence of the different land use categories was marshland > built-up > agriculture > bare land > lake > river. This study will help policy planners and decision makers to understand the trend of groundwater development and hence to take timely mitigation measures for its sustainable management.
Highlights
Already-scarce freshwater resources are under an unprecedented amount of stress from different drivers and pressures, including urbanization, land use change, population growth, increased food/water demand, and climate change [1,2]
It has been well reported that the cumulative effects of both natural and anthropogenic activities have significant impacts on land use, which affects the services provided by the local ecosystems [3,4]
The findings from this work revealed that the major factors for the change in the groundwater quality between 2001–2011 in Khambhat city were the rising water demand along with groundwater withdrawal and land use/land cover changes
Summary
Already-scarce freshwater resources are under an unprecedented amount of stress from different drivers and pressures, including urbanization, land use change, population growth, increased food/water demand, and climate change [1,2]. It has been well reported that the cumulative effects of both natural and anthropogenic activities have significant impacts on land use, which affects the services provided by the local ecosystems (e.g., their ability to provision and regulate fresh surface water and groundwater) [3,4] This is exacerbated by the lack of water governance and inadequate infrastructure in many developing countries [5,6]. Recognizing this problem, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlights the necessity of clean water for achieving different goals pertaining to environmental (e.g., Goal 14, Life below water) and human well-being (e.g., Goal 6, Clean water and sanitation; and Goal 2, Zero hunger) [7] Along these lines, a recent study found that more holistic and integrated land use management practices could help achieve SDGs related to water, food, health, and climate change [8]. Water governance has an important role to play in this kind of holistic/integrated land use management
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