Impact of highway construction on water bodies: a geospatial assessment.

India has witnessed a massive infrastructure boom in the past few years. One of such projects is National Highway-7 (NH-7), a North-South highway connecting Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, to Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, traversing many water bodies. The present study aims to assess the pre- and post-construction impact due to existing, new and widened NH-7 on the physical status of the water bodies, using remote sensing techniques. Satellite images spanning 22 years were procured and analysed for change detection in land use and land cover within the waterbodies. The study indicates that construction activities have led to transformation within the water bodies regarding reduction in area and inter-changing of land use and land cover classes, in turn leading to siltation and reduction of recharge.