International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Vol. 5(2), pp. 67-76, February, 2013 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/IJWREE DOI: 10.5897/IJWREE11.142 ISSN 1991-637X ©2013 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Evaluation of ground water quality in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) Anju Verma1, Biswajeet Thakur2, Shashwat Katiyar3, Dharam Singh1 and Madhu Rai4 1Department of Environmental Sciences, IBSBT, CSJM University, Kanpur. 2Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. 3Department of Biochemistry, IBSBT, CSJM University, Kanpur. 4Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. Accepted 24 January, 2013 Lucknow being capital city of most poapulated state of India is facing tremendous population pressure. This has led to overexploitation of natural resources and among them water is most valuable natural resource essential for human survival and ecosystem. This study monitors ground water quality, relating it to land use/land cover and habitation mask of different water quality parameters are prepared by using geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technique. Base map was prepared by Survey of India toposheets on 1:50.000 scale. The land use / land cover map was made from satellite imagery and GIS software like ERDAS Imagine and ARC GIS 9.3. The ground water samples were collected from the selected locations and were analyzed for different physico-chemical analysis and a water quality index was prepared. Water quality index (WQI) was then calculated on the basis of WHO standards to classify suitability for drinking water. The WQI map was interpolated using inverse distance weight (IDW) method on GIS for spatial variation and suitability of quality assessment. Key words: Remote sensing, ground water, water quality index, urban sprawl, inverse distance weight (IDW) method, WHO standard. INTRODUCTION Urbanization is characterized by clustering of people in 2011). relatively small areas and is recognized as an inevitable The city is facing a rapid change in environmental historical process (UN, 2004). The urbanization leads to quality. Rapid urbanization leads to many problems as it many changes which have adverse impacts on places huge demand on land, water, housing, transport, Environment, including ecology, especially hydro- health, Education etc (Gyananath et al., 2001). The city geomorphology, water resources and vegetation. Rapid has an alarming increase in population it increased from growth of urban areas has further affected the ground 0.497 million in 1951 to 2.267 million in 2001 and 2.714 water quality due to over exploitation of resources and million in 2006 to 3.306 in 2011 increased 4.56 times improper practices (Mohrir et al., 2002). Lucknow is the (456 per cent) during the last fifty years. The growth rate capital city of the most populous state Uttar Pradesh and of population Lucknow (UA) was at 7.12% per annum is one of the fastest developing urban centers of India. (Lucknow Master Plan, 2010). This rising population Lucknow district is a part of Central Ganga Plain covering density has major impact on natural resources of the area an area of 2, 528 km2. and lies between North latitudes especially on water quality and quantity. 26°30’ and 27°10’ and East longitudes 80°30’and 81°13’ Fresh water is most important natural resources for the with total population of 34 lakhs as per 2011 (Anonymous, life but overexploitation and unjustified use of water has led to deterioration of quality of water. In the last few decades, ground water has become an essential resource due to its use for drinking, industrial and irrigation *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. purposes. Remote sensing and geographic information 68 Int. J. Water Res. Environ. Eng. systems (GIS) are effective tools for land use/ land cover, Attribute database water quality mapping for monitoring and detection of change in environment (Ferry et al., 2003). One of the Ground water samples were collected from predetermined locations that is, Urban and Suburban areas selected from the satellite greatest advantages of using remotely sensing data for imagery (Figure 2). The water samples taken from these locations hydrological investigations and monitoring its ability to and the area were then analyzed for eight water quality physico- generate information in spatial and temporal domain, chemical parameters adopting standard protocols (APHA, 1998). which is very crucial for successful analysis, prediction The water quality data thus obtained is used as database for and validation (Saraf, 1999; Epstein et al., 2002). GIS present study (Table 1). The standards prescribed by BIS were used foe the calculation of can be a powerful tool for dealing with water resource water quality indices (BIS, 1991) problems and developing solutions (Skidmore et al., 1997). In this paper we have integrated remote sensing, GIS and field studies for evaluating impacts of land use GIS based spatial modeling for pollutant distribution change on water quality of Lucknow City. GIS can act as a powerful tool for modeling water quality. Various Thematic maps which are helpful understanding and managing water resources can be prepared with the use of GIS. In this study METHODOLOGY spatial interpolation technique through inverse distance weighted (IDW) approach of GIS has been used. In this technique sample Study area points on different locations are selected for estimating output grid value. It determines cell value using a linearly weighted Lucknow district is a part of Central Ganga Plain in the state of Uttar combination of sample points and controls the significance of Pradesh covering an area of 2,528 km2 and lies between North known points upon the interpolated values based upon their latitudes 26°30’ and 27°10’ and East longitudes 80°30’and 81°13’ distance from the output point thus a surface grid is generated as (Figure 1) with total population of 34 lakhs as per 2011 thematic isolines (Asadi et al., 2007). (Anonymous, 2011]. General elevation of the district varies between 103 and 130 (Anonymous, 2009-10) meters above mean sea level showing southeasterly slope. Irrigation in the district takes place Calculation through Sharda Canal and Sharda Sahayak network systems and tube-wells. The Gomati River, the chief geographical feature, Water quality index (WQI) meanders through the city, dividing it into the Trans-Gomati and Cis-Gomati regions. The climate of Lucknow city is of subtropical Water quality index is regarded as one of the most effective way to type with three distinct seasons namely summer, monsoon and communicate water quality (Sinha et al., 2004; Srivastava et al., winter. The maximum temperature remains 45°C during month of 1994) WQI of water collected from 52 (22 + 30) locations of urban May and minimum temperature remains 5°C during January. The and sub-urban areas of Lucknow district were calculated. It is very average annual rainfall of the city is 1014.7 mm. useful method for assessing water quality of drinking water. In this a rating scale is fixed on the basis of importance and incidence on the overall quality of drinking water I terms of different physic-chemical Data used parameters (Anonymous 2009-10; Horton, 1965). For calculating WQI different formulas given below are used (Sinha et al., 2006; Different data products required for the study include Survey of Singh et al., 1999). India toposheets 63B/9, 10, 13, 14, 63F/1, 2, 63 A/ 12, 16, 63 E/ 4 (i) Water Quality Rating, Q = [(V - Vi) / (Vs- Vi)] x 100 (1) on 1:50,000 scale. Besides this guide map of Lucknow on 1:20,000 n a scale have also been referred during interpretation as well as for Q Quality rating for total water quality parameter. base map preparation. IRS- P6 LISS III of 2005 have also been n = V Actual value of parameter obtained from Laboratory analysis. utilized for land use and urban settlement map. a = Vi = Ideal value of the parameter obtained from the standards. (For The study area was demarcated using Toposheets of 1:50,000 pH it is 7 and for others it is zero). by identifying the district boundaries by Scanning, projecting, geo- Vs = Value recommended by BIS India of water quality. referencing and digitizing toposheets of the area manually using ERDAS. Various land use / land cover features were studied and a (ii) Unit weight (Wn) = K / Sn (2) base map was prepared by visual interpretation using toposheets and false colour composite image of LISS III sensor. Water samples Sn is accepted drinking water quality standards by ISO were taken from the area using random sampling techniques and K = Proportionality Constant with the help of GPS (Global Positioning System) the co-ordinates n Calculated by K = [1 / ( n = i 1/Si] were noted down. Sn = Standard values of the water quality. Based on the above water quality values, the water samples quality Spatial database is categorized as Excellent, Good, poor, Very Poor, Unfit for Drinking (Tiwari et al., 1985) (Table 2). The spatial database is prepared by using different thematic Thematic layers like base map of the study area, land use / land cover, drainage network from SOI toposheets on 1:50,000 scale Land use land cover distribution using ERDAS, Arc/Info GIS software to obtain baseline data. All maps are digitized to convert data into vector format. Landuse / Land use change with time has great impacts on the environmental land cover maps are prepared by using GIS software through quality of the area. The change in land use is highly associated with supervised classification. SOI toposheets, satellite data and GPS ground water quality (Dasgupta et al., 2001). In the present study (global Positioning data) together used with ground truth data. the land use has been classified into ten classes. In the overall Verma et al.