Abstract
Urban development causes multiple water losses. Some of them may be ignored but some could have a huge influence on the whole catchment, including soil drought. As urban sprawl rises, space for unaffected infiltration and retention is increasingly limited. The objective of this study was to backcast and to estimate water-retention loss due to urbanization during the period of 1990–2018. We used landcover data, meteorological and hydrological data and data on soil water-holding capacity. Water-retention loss was expressed as soil water retention capacity loss, net precipitation loss and total sum of precipitation loss. Historical change in urban extension has led to large impacts on the hydrological cycle of the study area. Progressive urban development caused water-retention losses which range from 3.380 to 14.182 millions of cubic meters—depending on the methodology used. Hydrological analysis showed the lack of a significant trend (decrease trend) of low flow which is caused by the high percentage of natural land use in the upper part of catchment. Our results show that backcasting of water retention change using CLC data (a) brings new and plausible data on retention loss, (b) is possible to replicate and (c) data used are common and easy-to-get.
Highlights
Water resources are characterized by spatial and temporal variability
The study presents the backcasting of the water retention change due to progressive urban development
Water-retention loss could be perceived as damage to the soils ability to retain precipitation due sealing by impervious surfaces; water-retention loss due to urbanization could be expressed by volume of net precipitation
Summary
Water resources are characterized by spatial and temporal variability. Quantity and quality of water, leads to problems which mankind has faced for centuries. Floods and droughts occur irregularly, but with major impact on countries across Europe [1,2,3]. The legacy of decades of scarce water management, demonstrates itself in the decreased water quality detected in most streams [1]. The mentioned problems are largely the consequence of climate and land use changes (amplified by the absence or non-observation with, environmental legislation; [4]). Numerous struggles over water resources are increasing
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