Assessment of LULC changes and urban water demand for sustainable water management: A case study of Dehradun city

Rapid urbanization and quest for development at individual and State level necessitate the urge for exploring the consequences of it on the natural resources available. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to assess the land use/land cover (LULC) change and urban water demand for the Dehradun city from the Indian Himalayan region over the period of time. The urban water demand was calculated by using census data and is further extrapolated to 2050 by using polynomial trend line. The LULC changes were analysed for the years 2001 to 2018 using geospatial techniques. The six different LULC classes were identified in the study area which includes agriculture, barren land, forest, shrubs, urban settlement and water. The significant variations have been observed in areas of urban settlement class (increase by 73.53%) and agriculture class (decrease by 49.67%) from 2001 to 2018. This was well depicted through change detection matrix. The results also indicated that the urbanization and population growth will increase urban water demand and it may exhibit more pressure on surface water and groundwater resource in the future. Further, smart city concept of managing water resources with the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is discussed and analysed to get satisfactory outcome by handling real time data with electronic tools. This study seeks to draw attention towards the trend followed in urbanisation and indigence for a sustainable water management plan to be adopted at this stage.