title: Massive land system changes impact water quality of the Jhelum River in Kashmir Himalaya.
abstract: The pristine aquatic ecosystems in the Himalayas are facing an ever increasing threat from various anthropogenic pressures which necessitate better understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of pollutants, their sources, and possible remedies. This study demonstrates the multi-disciplinary approach utilizing the multivariate statistical techniques, data from remote sensing, lab, and field-based observations for assessing the impact of massive land system changes on water quality of the river Jhelum. Land system changes over a period of 38 years have been quantified using multi-spectral satellite data to delineate the extent of different anthropogenically driven land use types that are the main non-point sources of pollution. Fifteen water quality parameters, at 12 sampling sites distributed uniformly along the length of the Jhelum, have been assessed to identify the possible sources of pollution. Our analysis indicated that 18% of the forested area has degraded into sparse forest or scrublands from 1972 to 2010, and the areas under croplands have decreased by 24% as people shifted from irrigation-intensive agriculture to orchard farming while as settlements showed a 397% increase during the observation period. One-way ANOVA revealed that all the water quality parameters had significant spatio-temporal differences (p < 0.01). Cluster analysis (CA) helped us to classify all the sampling sites into three groups. Factor analysis revealed that 91.84% of the total variance was mainly explained by five factors. Drastic changes in water quality of the Jhelum since the past three decades are manifested by increases in nitrate-nitrogen, TDS, and electric conductivity. The especially high levels of nitrogen (858 ± 405 μgL(-1)) and phosphorus (273 ± 18 μgL(-1)) in the Jhelum could be attributed to the reckless application of fertilizers, pesticides, and unplanned urbanization in the area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Mohmmad Irshad
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Rather
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India. irfangis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Irfan
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5214-1919
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rashid
authors.affiliation: Center of Research for Development, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Nuzhat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Khalid Omar
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Murtaza
authors.affiliation: Center of Research for Development, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Khalida
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.affiliation: Expert Member, National Green Tribunal, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Abdul Rehman
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Yousuf
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Shakil Ahmad
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Romshoo
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Irfan Yousuf
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Shah
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000639:trends; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005308:Fertilizers; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Himalaya; Jhelum River; Land system changes; Spatio-temporal variations; Water quality monitoring