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An overview of the effects of urbanization on the quantity and quality of groundwater in South Asian megacities

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Abstract

One of the challenges facing megacities in South Asian developing countries in their attempts to realize so-called urban rejuvenation is groundwater conditioned by canal seepage and immense sewage loads. To understand the connection between groundwater pollutants and urbanization, numerous studies were reviewed, and data obtained from a variety of national and international organizations were analyzed. In Delhi and Dhaka, urbanization has lowered the groundwater level as a result of severe overextraction, and its dense population makes Delhi particularly vulnerable to groundwater pollution. In the coastal areas of Karachi and Mumbai, such pollution is magnified by the proximity of seawater as well as the increasing populations of these areas. Among the groundwater pollutants associated with urbanization, chlorides and nitrates are the chief anthropogenic toxins; thus, they are examined in this study. This paper concludes with policy recommendations for minimizing the impact of urbanization on groundwater.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank GEMSTAT, particularly Ms. Kelly Hodgson, data specialist, for providing water quality data. Special thanks go to the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh for approving S.J. Haque’s study leave to work as a visiting researcher at the biogeochemical laboratory in Hiroshima University, Japan.

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  1. Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Science, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan

    Syeda Jesmin Haque, Shin-ichi Onodera & Yuta Shimizu

  2. Geological Survey of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Syeda Jesmin Haque

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  1. Syeda Jesmin Haque
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  2. Shin-ichi Onodera
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Correspondence to Syeda Jesmin Haque.

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Haque, S.J., Onodera, Si. & Shimizu, Y. An overview of the effects of urbanization on the quantity and quality of groundwater in South Asian megacities. Limnology 14, 135–145 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-012-0392-6

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