The River Yamuna is one of the most prominent and sacred rivers of India. Due to the unaccounted discharge from many anthropogenic activities and industrialization in the basin, the deterioration of the river with respect to time is at its maximum. Periodical analysis is essential for remediation of the causes and the source. The study has been undertaken using GIS technology to understand the variations being taken place in the past decades. The transformation in the physical and geographical characteristics, during the years since 1980-81, of the Yamuna River Basin has been analyzed and converted into digital GIS domain in terms of maps and charts. The reference condition of the basin has been set up and utilized in order to identify the change in land use and land cover of the river premises around Delhi and its neighbouring states. The vegetation analysis with respect to climatic conditions and water quality deterioration has also been assessed in the present study.
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Water is essential for sustaining life and development. However, the variation in rainfall, rapid growth in population, increased urbanization, intensive use of fertilizers in agriculture, unplanned industrial growth, all have contributed in putting great stress on the availability of water both in terms of quantity and quality. Planning of water resources for the future development, thus, calls for careful monitoring of this precious resource both in qualitative and quantitative terms for various uses e.g. drinking, agricultural, recreational, industrial etc. Lesser availability of fresh waters and entry of larger quantum of pollutants into the river systems in the recent past have put considerable strain on their self-assimilation capacity. The status of pollution and the effect of pollutants change with the seasonal flows. Evaluation of fitness of water for various uses, therefore, requires monitoring of water quality at various locations of the rivers. For any nation to progress, it is imperative that its resources are optimally used with a goal on long-term utilization. Like other resources, the water resources also play a very vital role in the progress of a country. Proper planning should always precede the utilization and similarly, the monitoring of resources precedes the planning. India, in totality is blissfully endowed with large water resources of good potable surface water in the shape of large rivers and lakes. In spite of their uneven distribution in time & space, these resources have greatly contributed to the development in India. Considerable tapping of river water resources has been done after the independence.
The tributaries of Yamuna contribute 70.9% of catchment area and balance 29.1% accounted for direct drainage into the Yamuna River or to the smaller tributaries. On the basis of area, the catchment basin of Yamuna amounts to 40.2% of the Ganga Basin and 10.7% of the total land mass of the country. However, the deleterious effects on water quality, the potential of pollution contributes by runoff water originating from rural communities, cattle farming and agricultural drainage is the major source of polluting a river water body and should not be underestimated. Intensive use of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals in agricultural use is bound to create impact on stream water quality during floods through surface wash off and during non-monsoon period through leaching and seepage. For developing country like India an extremely important aspect is formulating of the water pollution control programs and policies. Considering the above mentioned facts in view a study was being planned with the objective in order to digitalize the archival data of duration from 1980 – 1981 of the entire Yamuna basin and information pertaining to water use and water pollution has also been considered. The data and information includes physiography, geology, meteorology, hydrology, demography, land use, agriculture, industry, water use and waste water discharge along the river basin has been transformed on GIS domain.