PREDICTING THE IMPACT OF RAPID URBANISATION ON URBAN GROUNDWATER LEVEL VARIATIONS AND ANALYZING CLIMATE DYNAMICS IN PUNJAB'S CITIES, INDIA: AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Abstract. In the past few decades, India has witnessed an unparallel population growth across its urban centres. The significant rise in urban population has led to acute demands for resources to sustain them, contributing to anthropogenic activities that impact urban resources and climate. This study was carried out to analyse the impact of rapid urbanisation on the groundwater level variation and climate dynamics. Focus was laid on Ludhiana and Patiala urban centres of Punjab state, India. Multi-temporal analysis of LULC was computed using Landsat-4, 5, 7 & 8 datasets to analyse urban sprawl during 1990–2023 for both the cities. A significant increase of 30% urban area was observed during 1990–2023. Further, to analyse the impact of urbanisation on ground water levels, the groundwater water storage variation was analysed using the GRACE and GRACE-FO mission datasets. It was found that the groundwater withdrawal was greater than the amount of total groundwater recharge during 1990–2023. Both these cities Ludhiana and Patiala has experienced an extreme decline in groundwater storage levels. Further, the time-series statistical relationships were explored to understand the relation between urban sprawl and annual temperature, rainfall patterns and total water storage for these cities during the years 2000-2022 for analysing the effect of rapid urbanization.