Urban sprawl and water stress with respect to changing landscape: Study from Lucknow, India

Abstract

Lucknow is the capital city of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Urban growth currently is largely on par with other cities of similar size, and is anticipated to be slightly faster in the immediate future. The better economic prospect has lead to an increase in the urban population of the city during last few years. It has lead to large-scale urban sprawl and the inherent distinctiveness of hydrological environment is being neglected in urban planning. With the expansion of the urban sprawl and the increasing population, there has been a surmounting pressure on a) natural and built drainage systems b) surface/subsurface hydrological storage units, of Lucknow. The anthropogenic factors have also contributed to the presence of heavy metals in the hydrological units of the city. Upto now the regeneration of water by nature kept the surface and subsurface water ecosystem pure, satisfying the urban and peri-urban requirements. But during last few years, increasing demands from new urban extensions as well as intense agriculture and irrigation practices in surrounding rural areas have stressed the hydrological cycle considerably, raising questions over the sustainability of the water resources in the city. This paper attempts to highlight some important environmental criteria and propose methodology to achieve it, during the design of master plan with a focus on surface and subsurface water integrity of Lucknow building upon city’s natural and built environments. Changes in land use and land cover are estimated with respect to urban sprawl from year 1973 and 2005 based upon Survey of India toposheets and satellite data of IRS -1D LISS III PAN Sharpened. Drainage network map is overlaid with land use patterns drawing implications on water environment. Key words: Urban sprawl, water, master plan, land use, drainage.