The Rur catchment has over time undergone land use change which could have affected the biogeochemical processes of the river. Three sub-catchments in the Rur, Upper Rur, Inde and Wurm have different kinds of land use. Upper Rur is more natural catchment; Inde is mixed type and Wurm is highly modified by anthropogenic activities. This study investigated how land use changes from 2000 to 2018 have influenced SO4 and Cl dynamics in the Rur catchment. Land use maps were developed in QGIS environment for land use change calculation. Historical water quality data were collected from the online public source by Ministry of Environment and Nature Conservation in Germany. R-software was used for statistical analysis and graphical presentation. Less land use change was observed in the Upper Rur between 2000 to 2018. But in the Inde and Wurm decrease in agricultural land and associated increase in industrial, commercial and urban land were observed. Increase in mining area inside the catchment has enhanced the level of SO4 and EC in the Inde river. Conversion rates of natural to human dominated land use could be quantified in this study through land use change mapping, which will further help in making water management plan for these and comparable German and European catchments. However, high quality historical data set is a key requirement to maximize the output in process of relating impact of land use change in water quality.
CITATION STYLE
Adhikari, S. (2020). Temporal Dynamics of Land Use and Water Quality in Three Sub-Catchments of the Rur River, Germany. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 08(08), 36–47. https://doi.org/10.4236/gep.2020.88004
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