Issue 6, 2015

Assessing the impacts of climate change and socio-economic changes on flow and phosphorus flux in the Ganga river system

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change has impacted and will continue to impact the natural environment and people around the world. Increasing temperatures and altered rainfall patterns combined with socio-economic factors such as population changes, land use changes and water transfers will affect flows and nutrient fluxes in river systems. The Ganga river, one of the largest river systems in the world, supports approximately 10% global population and more than 700 cities. Changes in the Ganga river system are likely to have a significant impact on water availability, water quality, aquatic habitats and people. In order to investigate these potential changes on the flow and water quality of the Ganga river, a multi-branch version of INCA Phosphorus (INCA-P) model has been applied to the entire river system. The model is used to quantify the impacts from a changing climate, population growth, additional agricultural land, pollution control and water transfers for 2041–2060 and 2080–2099. The results provide valuable information about potential effects of different management strategies on catchment water quality.

Graphical abstract: Assessing the impacts of climate change and socio-economic changes on flow and phosphorus flux in the Ganga river system

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 fev 2015
Accepted
27 mar 2015
First published
27 mar 2015

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2015,17, 1098-1110

Assessing the impacts of climate change and socio-economic changes on flow and phosphorus flux in the Ganga river system

L. Jin, P. G. Whitehead, S. Sarkar, R. Sinha, M. N. Futter, D. Butterfield, J. Caesar and J. Crossman, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2015, 17, 1098 DOI: 10.1039/C5EM00092K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements