Title: | An assessment of land use change impacts on the water resources of the Mula and Mutha Rivers catchment upstream of Pune, India |
Authors: | Wagner, P.D., S. Kumar and K. Schneider |
Year: | 2013 |
Journal: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
Volume (Issue): | 17 |
Pages: | 2233-2246 |
Article ID: | |
DOI: | 10.5194/hess-17-2233-2013 |
URL (non-DOI journals): | |
Model: | SWAT |
Broad Application Category: | hydrologic only |
Primary Application Category: | land use change assessment |
Secondary Application Category: | hydrologic assessment |
Watershed Description: | 2,036 km^2 Mula and Mutha Rivers in the Western Ghats region in west central India |
Calibration Summary: | |
Validation Summary: | |
General Comments: | |
Abstract: | Land use changes are altering the hydrologic system
and have potentially large impacts on water resources.
Rapid socio-economic development drives land use change.
This is particularly true in the case of the rapidly developing
city of Pune, India. The present study aims at analyzing
past land use changes between 1989 and 2009 and their impacts
on the water balance in the Mula and Mutha Rivers
catchment upstream of Pune. Land use changes were identified
from three Rivers catchment multitemporal land use
classifications for the cropping years 1989/1990, 2000/2001,
and 2009/2010. The hydrologic model SWAT (Soil and Water
Assessment Tool) was used to assess impacts on runoff
and evapotranspiration. Two model runs were performed and
compared using the land use classifications of 1989/1990 and
2009/2010. The main land use changes were identified as an
increase of urban area from 5.1% to 10.1% and cropland
from 9.7% to 13.5% of the catchment area during the 20 yr
period. Urbanization was mainly observed in the eastern part
and conversion to cropland in the mid-northern part of the
catchment. At the catchment scale we found that the impacts
of these land use changes on the water balance cancel each
other out. However, at the sub-basin scale urbanization led
to an increase of the water yield by up to 7.6 %, and a similar
decrease of evapotranspiration, whereas the increase of
cropland resulted in an increase of evapotranspiration by up
to 5.9 %. |
Language: | English |
Keywords: | |