Author(s)

Sheetal Sharma, Alka Bharat, Vinay Mohan Das

Department of Architecture & Planning, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal, India..

Urbanization is termed as physical transformation of landscapes that alter the natural regime of the environment of its surrounding resulting in further changes in macro as well as micro climate of the region [1]. Urban areas are continually facing problems of water scarcity and urban flash floods. Recent news from IPCC report 2010, CIESIN’s Global Rural Urban Mapping Project [2] and World Water Vol. 7 2007, it is clear that urban land area has doubled and affected the hydrological cycle. The components of hydrological cycle affected are Infiltration, Runoff and Evaporation and the causing components are derived by studies as land use, land cover, water withdrawal and urban developments. Thus water availability, water recharge and water cycle are all destabilized in course or urban development. The paper is an attempt to correlate and identify the periodical changes in urban water cycle, during urbanization of Bhopal City, India, during last twenty years and above. The observations are based on GIS mapping of the study area from 1991 to 2009 using rational method of runoff and recharge calculations and statistical analysis of related built-up areas. Also change in natural course of drainages with the help of GIS imageries which have been detected during twenty years that help to observe the adaptation of natural system to urban course. Also the observations show an interesting relation which can be used for further research and sustainable development [3].

Urban; Impervious Layer; Runoff; Runoff Calculations; Recharge Calculations; Built-Up Areas

S. Sharma, A. Bharat and V. Mohan Das, "Statistical Change Detection in Water Cycle over Two Decades and Assessment of Impact of Urbanization on Surface and Sub-Surface Water Flows," Open Journal of Modern Hydrology, Vol. 3 No. 4, 2013, pp. 165-171. doi: 10.4236/ojmh.2013.34020.