Remote sensing and GIS based impact assessment of land transformations on ground water level of a rapidly urbanizing watershed of India

Rapid urbanization changes the surface and sub-surface hydrological characteristics viz. Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) and Ground Water Level (GWL) of the watershed. Upper Bhima watershed of India is highly stressed in terms of water resources due to uneven distribution of rainfall and increasing urbanization. For sustainable development in this region, it is crucial to understand the impact of land transformations on GWL. Geospatial technologies viz. remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) serve as efficient aids in assessing these impacts of sustainable development in a watershed. In this study, time series satellite datasets of 2002 and 2009 are analyzed to evaluate LU/LC changes. Whereas, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Water-Level Index (SWI) are used to understand the precipitation deficit and ground water recharge deficit for the period of 2002–2009 respectively. From results, it is observed that LU/LC is changing rapidly, which is highly affecting the GWL of the Upper Bhima watershed.