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Wetlands are an integral part of the ecosystem. They provide food and water, regulate and buffer floods, recharge groundwater, provide cultural and spiritual enrichment and habitat for diverse species. These wetlands are often degraded, destroyed, or encroached upon due to various anthropogenic pressures like developmental or expansion activities. As a result, the wetland services are lost and the built-up area in the former wetlands face disasters like flash floods and land subsidence. Hence, it is important to protect and conserve wetlands as they play a critical role in balancing human and environmental needs.
Najafgarh Jheel has been one of the largest wetlands in Delhi NCR primarily fed by the seasonal river Sahibi and floodwaters from Gurugram and Northwest Delhi. The presently 25 sq km jheel covers parts of Delhi and Haryana making it transboundary in nature. The loss in its coverage from 226 sq km in 1883 can be attributed to the expansion and widening of the Najafgarh Nala to the Yamuna which has since drained the jheel. The jheel was drained to gain more cultivable land for agriculture and to prevent flooding of Delhi. Currently, the water in the jheel is largely polluted due to the drains that carry wastewater into it including the Badshahpur drain that carries the wastewater from Gurugram. The draining of the wetland has affected the hydrological regime, ecology, and biodiversity of the wetland. The increase in the built-up area inside the zone of influence of the wetland has resulted in the flooding of buildings and properties.
Recognition of this wetland as a protected entity will aid in better conservation and management. Studying the temporal changes in the wetland features like the extent, land use and land cover (LULC), and its hydrological regimes, will help in placing the wetlands in the Delhi NCR masterplan and forming necessary conservation and management action plans.
This thesis analyzes the current scenario of the wetland and the transformation it has gone through in the past three decades. The extent of change in the zone of influence of the wetland is assessed through the preparation of LULC for the years 1991 - 2020. Hydrology and hydrogeology of the wetland are studied using surface water maps and groundwater modeling using MODFLOW.
Keywords: Wetland, Najafgarh Jheel, LULC, MODFLOW.
