Impact of urbanization on water availability for agriculture development in Musi river basin: a remote sensing and GIS approach
Student name: Mr Chinmay Deval
Guide: Dr Prateek Sharma
Year of completion: 2014
Host Organisation: International Water Management Institute, Hyderabad
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Mahesh Jampani
Abstract: The present study attempts to examine the changes in land use and land cover in Musi River basin
over a period of four decades (1977-2013) using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Landsat
images for four years, 1977, 2001, 2009 and 2013 were analyzed to understand changes in six land
use and land cover classes namely built-up area, agriculture, barren land, forest, water bodies and
dry river bed. Understanding these changes, the study further investigates the impact of
urbanization of Hyderabad urban agglomeration (HUA) on water availability in the Musi River
for agriculture downstream of HUA, and the resulting changes in the land coming under
agriculture over the years. The study further predicts the wastewater availability in the Musi River
based on three scenarios of water demand of HUA. The study reveals a significant increase in the
built-up area in the entire basin, increasing from 1 % (11306.61 ha) of the total basin area in 1977
to about 10.40% (117252.9 ha) in 2013. The area under agriculture in the entire basin has also
experienced growth, increasing from about 36% (409635.3 ha) of the total basin area (1126981
ha) in 1977 to about 54% (611819.1 ha) in 2013. Similar growth trend was observed in the builtup
area of HUA, where the area increased from about 22.83% (10012.95 ha) of the total HUA
area (43845.03 ha) in 1977 to 77.50% (33979.95 ha) in 2013. The area under the agriculture
downstream of HUA also increased from 32.81% (241331.31 ha) of the total area downstream
(735500.4 ha) in 1977 to 60.25% (443164.86 ha) in 2013. The two regression models showing
relationship between the built-up area of HUA and wastewater available in Musi River for
agriculture and wastewater available in Musi River for agriculture and area under agriculture
downstream, both with R2
value of 0.92 were found to be significant at 95% confidence interval.
The future predictions of wastewater availability in Musi river show that if the present scenario
continues i.e. 80% of the total demand of HUA is met, then the availability will go as high as 972.48
million cubic meter (MCM) by 2050 and if only 60% of the HUA water demand is met then the
availability will still continue to increase but will be less than the present scenario (80%) and
account to 742.70 MCM by 2050. Based on the analysis, the Hyderabad urban system has a
significant influence on Riverine and agricultural systems of the Musi River basin.
Keywords: Remote sensing and GIS, Urban expansion, Wastewater availability, Musi River basin,
agricultural evolution.
