Geospatial assessment of seasonal water quality of Malad creek, Mumbai, India: An impact of sewage discharge

Abstract

Water pollution of creeks and the marine environment is a serious concern across the globe due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. Mumbai, being a densely populated industrial hub of India is facing the impact of sewage pollution in creeks and coastal belts. In this study, one of the polluted creeks of Mumbai namely Malad creek is considered a study area to assess the seasonal variation of sewage pollution with special attention to satellite image analysis and tidal characteristics. For this, in-situ sampling corresponding with the date and time pass of satellite images and spectral analysis are carried out to assess spatio-temporal variation in the water quality of the creek as well as establish a statistical relationship between image analysis and ground data. The purpose of this study is to avoid the limitations of monitoring point-specific data, inaccessible remote areas, labour intensiveness, higher expense, and unavailability of temporal data in the conventional method. The study provides an adequate, effective, and comprehensive way to assess sewage pollution in waterbodies and suggests future research work like the health assessment of marine organisms and threats in eco-sensitive zones of the coastal environment.