3. Materials and Methods

This chapter deals mainly with the materials and different methods used in the present study in order to establish the facts and figures of river health of the river Haora. 1932, SOI topographical maps (scale 1:63,360), 1956 US Army topographical map (scale 1:250,000) and recent Google image (2005) have been decoded, referenced and digitised using ARC GIS (v 9.3) software to detect the spatio-temporal changes (gradual changes in channel positions in different years) of the river course. For the study of population growth, Indian Census data for the period of 1981–2011 have been used. Location of brick fields has been demarcated with the help of GPS. Soil erosion of the basin has been estimated on the basis of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, and the amount of sediment yield has been estimated by multiplying bank erosivity and bank erodibility. Water samples collected from the field have been tested in the laboratory in order to find the amount of pollutants in the river water. River course change, USLE, sediment yield, bank erosion zonation, water quality.