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Catchment Scale Forest-Water Interfaces for Pollution Management

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Water Quality, Assessment and Management in India

Part of the book series: Earth and Environmental Sciences Library ((EESL))

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Abstract

Forests offer an imperative role for supplying clean water for multiple utilities, and also protecting soils from vast erosion. Much of the biosphere’s freshwater is delivered through forested catchments. Forests also safeguard numerous dams and even groundwater reserves by tackling siltation & contamination from various pollutants/pollution. Water and soils remain two essential drivers of the health & growth of forests. With the swelling demand for agrarian and metropolitan land (due to explosive populace & more fancy lifestyles); bulk of forests are placed in tremendous stress (further worsened by climate change). At catchment scale; the land & water policies, are frequently prejudiced to a large extent by countless apparent geo-hydological possessions like rainfall-runoff processes, soil erosion control and sediment-reduction benefits. It is truer in tropical situations like India, where region-specific understanding of such hydrological processes & functioning become indispensable for truer argument on forest-water connections at catchment scale. This chapter summarizes precise consensus on key facets of forest-water associations; by addressing relevant water quantity, quality & pollution issues therein. It accommodates broader facets like, ‘forest water edges’ and associated ‘water quality/pollution features’. Trepidations or information gaps towards hydrological impacts of forest management along with emerging futuristic R&D issues are suitably assimilated. It also includes focused highlights towards influences of forests & their management on different streamflow factors, soil loss, stream sedimentation, water quality, landslides, and water use of diverse vegetation. The chapter is engrossed in practically vital concerns like; forest functions, forest-water interactions, relevant hydrologic determinants and their influences on water quality/quantity, and other climate change-based implications. An updated forest-water interface for India is offered along with integrated & inclusive catchment management strategies, which could be of imperative utility for relevant researchers, watershed managers, academicians/scholars, field functionaries, forest-water policy planners, and society as well.

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Acknowledgments

Besides the author’s views & work, this chapter incorporates views & findings of many leading experts and agencies who had worked on forest-water based issues; which is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agril. Engg, BACA, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Murari Lal Gaur

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  1. Murari Lal Gaur
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Correspondence to Murari Lal Gaur .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Shalini Yadav

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Abdelazim M. Negm

  3. Madhyanchal Professional University, Bhopal, India

    Ram Narayan Yadava

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Gaur, M.L. (2022). Catchment Scale Forest-Water Interfaces for Pollution Management. In: Yadav, S., Negm, A.M., Yadava, R.N. (eds) Water Quality, Assessment and Management in India. Earth and Environmental Sciences Library. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95687-5_5

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