Assessment of Environmental Changes using GIS Applications

Abstract

Hydropower is one of the prominent sources of electricity and renewable. It is also one of the key sources of economic growth for the Himachal Pradesh state. With the idea of an increase in hydropower projects increase the economy, the state is building more hydropower projects. The construction of hydropower projects has a significant impact on the environment both positive and negative. This work focuses on assessing the environmental changes in the Pandoh hydropower project’s basin in terms of sufficiency of the environmental flow for the sustenance of agriculture’s health and vegetation. Pandoh hydropower project was established in 1977 in the Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh producing up to 990 MW. It is situated along the downstream side of the Larji hydropower project and sources of water are the releases from the Larji reservoir. It is also a source for the Dehar hydropower project downstream to the Pandoh dam. The assessment has been done using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Land Use Land Cover Change. The analysis is carried out for two periods, healthy (August to October) and lean period (November to February), that too before and after the construction of the dam. The results show that the impact prevails in the study area with a decrease in agricultural land and an increase in urbanization.