Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Surface Runoff: An application of GIS based L-THIA Model in Surface Water Management

The developing world is undergoing a major demographic transition from a rural, agrarian society to an urban, industrial one.(UN, 2001) Migration of the growing population towards built area is driving land use and land cover change (LULC) in the form of urbanization across the globe.(UN, 2008) Hydrologic impacts of urban expansion are generally reflected in increasing runoff rate. LULC change is an important concern as it has a tendency to imbalance various components of hydrological cycle. Understanding the effect of LULC change is very important for development of sustainable water resource. The purpose of this book is to provide an insight approach to long-term impact of LULC change on surface runoff. With the advent of RS & GIS technology, it became easier for hydrologists to deal with large scale, complex & spatially distributed hydrologic process. This book covers assessment of LULC change and also it's potential impact on surface runoff through GIS based L-THIA model. L-THIA, requiring a modest effort to prepare input data, estimates runoff by SCS-CN method. This study produces an effective tool to hydrologists for water resource planning & management.