River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework

Urban river pollution is considered a ‘necessary evil’ consequence of disproportionate developmental expansion in metropolises. Unprecedented expansion and anthropic activities amongst other reasons lead to choking of urban rivers with municipal and industrial sewage. Urban rivers are dying while aw...

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Main Authors: Sheeba Sekharan, Dipak R. Samal, Harish C. Phuleria, Munish K. Chandel, Shirish Gedam, Rakesh Kumar, Virendra Sethi, Amar R. Supate, Subhankar Karmakar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-04-01
Series:Environmental Challenges
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022000567
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author Sheeba Sekharan
Dipak R. Samal
Harish C. Phuleria
Munish K. Chandel
Shirish Gedam
Rakesh Kumar
Virendra Sethi
Amar R. Supate
Subhankar Karmakar
author_facet Sheeba Sekharan
Dipak R. Samal
Harish C. Phuleria
Munish K. Chandel
Shirish Gedam
Rakesh Kumar
Virendra Sethi
Amar R. Supate
Subhankar Karmakar
author_sort Sheeba Sekharan
collection DOAJ
description Urban river pollution is considered a ‘necessary evil’ consequence of disproportionate developmental expansion in metropolises. Unprecedented expansion and anthropic activities amongst other reasons lead to choking of urban rivers with municipal and industrial sewage. Urban rivers are dying while awaiting rescue, despite the hard efforts by civic authorities, largely due to lack of coordination amongst river authorities and stakeholders, underlying conflicts spanning across all levels, balkanisation, pluralization, scarcity of reliable technical data, and financial constraints. Challenges faced by stakeholders in river pollution management as revealed in informational interviews are foregrounded. In an attempt to reduce some of the overwhelm faced by officials on ground, a geospatial framework is proposed which if functionally implemented can transparentize river water quality (WQ) monitoring, and facilitate pollution control. The pollution situation in a persistently polluted urban river near Mumbai city, India was explored and assessed in the middle of a restoration battle waged by environmental activists. Following secondary river water quality data acquisition, primary sample collection campaign and WQ testing, multivariate statistical data analysis was performed under data- and resource-constraint situation. Spatiotemporal monitoring and visualization of river water quality data holds great promise for effectively controlling anthropic river pollution. A subsequent geospatial analysis of the study area was performed using digital elevation model (DEM) based watershed delineation, land use land cover (LULC) classification, mapping of WQ monitoring locations, mapping of industrial clusters, integration of spatial data, and identifying polluter industries. This steered us to formulate and propose the geospatial framework and supplementary recommendations on how better to save this dying river. The framework displays near real-time information on river water quality at different impaired river stretches in urban industrial ecosystem. Applicable universally for monitoring any river in urban industrial catchment, it can be used as a reference by stakeholders and research aspirants.
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spelling doaj.art-ddb1b98830ab4039a8c2d2910340558c2022-12-22T02:23:23ZengElsevierEnvironmental Challenges2667-01002022-04-017100496River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial frameworkSheeba Sekharan0Dipak R. Samal1Harish C. Phuleria2Munish K. Chandel3Shirish Gedam4Rakesh Kumar5Virendra Sethi6Amar R. Supate7Subhankar Karmakar8Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, IndiaFaculty of Technology, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) University, Ahmedabad, IndiaInterdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India; Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, IndiaEnvironmental Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, IndiaCentre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, IndiaNational Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, IndiaEnvironmental Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, India; Centre for Urban Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, IndiaMaharashtra Pollution Control Board, Mumbai, IndiaInterdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India; Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400076, India; Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India; Corresponding author.Urban river pollution is considered a ‘necessary evil’ consequence of disproportionate developmental expansion in metropolises. Unprecedented expansion and anthropic activities amongst other reasons lead to choking of urban rivers with municipal and industrial sewage. Urban rivers are dying while awaiting rescue, despite the hard efforts by civic authorities, largely due to lack of coordination amongst river authorities and stakeholders, underlying conflicts spanning across all levels, balkanisation, pluralization, scarcity of reliable technical data, and financial constraints. Challenges faced by stakeholders in river pollution management as revealed in informational interviews are foregrounded. In an attempt to reduce some of the overwhelm faced by officials on ground, a geospatial framework is proposed which if functionally implemented can transparentize river water quality (WQ) monitoring, and facilitate pollution control. The pollution situation in a persistently polluted urban river near Mumbai city, India was explored and assessed in the middle of a restoration battle waged by environmental activists. Following secondary river water quality data acquisition, primary sample collection campaign and WQ testing, multivariate statistical data analysis was performed under data- and resource-constraint situation. Spatiotemporal monitoring and visualization of river water quality data holds great promise for effectively controlling anthropic river pollution. A subsequent geospatial analysis of the study area was performed using digital elevation model (DEM) based watershed delineation, land use land cover (LULC) classification, mapping of WQ monitoring locations, mapping of industrial clusters, integration of spatial data, and identifying polluter industries. This steered us to formulate and propose the geospatial framework and supplementary recommendations on how better to save this dying river. The framework displays near real-time information on river water quality at different impaired river stretches in urban industrial ecosystem. Applicable universally for monitoring any river in urban industrial catchment, it can be used as a reference by stakeholders and research aspirants.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022000567Industrial catchmentUrban ecosystemRiver pollutionMultivariate statisticsGISUrban river
spellingShingle Sheeba Sekharan
Dipak R. Samal
Harish C. Phuleria
Munish K. Chandel
Shirish Gedam
Rakesh Kumar
Virendra Sethi
Amar R. Supate
Subhankar Karmakar
River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework
Environmental Challenges
Industrial catchment
Urban ecosystem
River pollution
Multivariate statistics
GIS
Urban river
title River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework
title_full River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework
title_fullStr River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework
title_full_unstemmed River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework
title_short River pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem: Challenges and proposed geospatial framework
title_sort river pollution monitoring over an industrial catchment in urban ecosystem challenges and proposed geospatial framework
topic Industrial catchment
Urban ecosystem
River pollution
Multivariate statistics
GIS
Urban river
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022000567
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