School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS), Sharda University, Greater Noida, U.P, India.
Department of Geography, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, U.P, India.
Environ Monit Assess. 2022 Jan 7;194(2):67. doi: 10.1007/s10661-021-09630-w.
Water bodies play a very important role in maintaining and restoring the ecological balance, but they are one of the most threatened habitats in the world. Anthropogenic intervention is changing the regimes of wetlands almost everywhere particularly in the developing countries. Gorakhpur District is dotted with many big and small flood plain-related water bodies like rivers, streams, tanks, dead arms, oxbow lakes, etc. Some of these water bodies are worst affected and are degraded by encroachment for agriculture and other economic and developmental activities. Channel migration, aggravated by human intervention, on alluvial plain is also very frequent, which has direct impact on the nature of water bodies and land use transformations of the region. In this paper, the authors have made an attempt to (a) bring current geographical and historical background of water bodies/wetlands for the district. It aims to assess long-term (1917-2018) and short-term (pre- and post-monsoon) changes in the water bodies of Gorakhpur District; (b) provide changes in the regime of water bodies/wetlands and their conversion to different types of land use/land cover classes due to human intervention and due to annual rainy season, which inundates a large extent of the area every year; (C) assess the channel characteristics and morphometric analysis of main rivers of the region during the last hundred years. Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) have been used to prepare the inventory and to perform change detection, using land use/land cover maps. The floodplain areas of water bodies have almost changed their morphological characters due to encroachment by the nearby areas. Canals, drainage channels, and lakes are the most affected water bodies in the region, which have recorded - 65.38% and 43.37% loss in their area. Even permanent rivers have recorded a decrease of - 16.96% in the area. As per the seasonal change, agriculture land suffered the greatest conversion (18.33%) due to floodwater inundation. The study provides a platform to planners to chalk out their policies and also for monitoring the water bodies. Furthermore, analysis on channel migration will help predict the future course of the main rivers.
水体在维持和恢复生态平衡方面发挥着非常重要的作用，但它们也是世界上受威胁最严重的栖息地之一。人为干预正在改变湿地的格局，这种情况在发展中国家尤为明显。戈勒克布尔区散布着许多大大小小的洪泛平原相关水体，如河流、溪流、池塘、死河汊、牛轭湖等。其中一些水体受到了最严重的影响，由于农业和其他经济和发展活动的侵占而退化。人类干预加剧了冲积平原上的河道迁移，这种情况非常频繁，这直接影响了该地区水体的性质和土地利用的转化。在本文中，作者试图：(a) 为该地区介绍当前水体/湿地的地理和历史背景。其目的是评估戈勒克布尔区水体的长期（1917-2018 年）和短期（前、后季风期）变化；(b) 提供由于人类干预以及由于每年雨季淹没该地区大部分地区而导致的水系统/湿地的制度变化及其向不同类型的土地利用/土地覆盖类型的转化；(c) 评估该地区过去一百年主要河流的河道特征和形态计量分析。利用遥感和地理信息系统（GIS）来编制清单并进行土地利用/土地覆盖图的变化检测。由于附近地区的侵占，水体的洪泛区几乎改变了它们的形态特征。运河、排水渠和湖泊是该地区受影响最大的水体，其面积分别减少了 65.38%和 43.37%。即使是永久性河流的面积也减少了 16.96%。就季节性变化而言，由于洪水泛滥，农业用地的转化最大（18.33%）。该研究为规划者提供了一个制定政策的平台，也为监测水体提供了一个平台。此外，对河道迁移的分析将有助于预测主要河流的未来走向。
