Water scarcity-induced change in vegetation cover along Teesta River catchments in Bangladesh : NDVI, Tasseled Cap and System dynamics analysis

Abstract: Water scarcity is both natural and man-made phenomenon. Water control and uneven distribution of upstream TeestaRiver water makes artificial scarcity in downstream areas which can be minimized at least to the water stress level by balancing distribution and sustainable water use. Tasseled Cap transformation and NDVI methods were used in this study in order to find the magnitude of water scarcity in the downstream areas. NDVI and Tasseled Cap Greenness methods were applied to get proxy for soil moisture values in the form of biomass content and Tasseled Cap Wetness method were used to detect change in soil moisture content from Landsat TM and ETM+ data (1989-2010). System dynamic analysis method was applied to identify temporal and spatial differences between supply and demand of water in the TeestaRiver catchments area in the northwestern part of Bangladesh. It was found that, the vegetation cover and soil moisture content changed and shifted over time. Overall vegetation declined between 1989 and 2010 and soil moisture content also turned down. Moreover, TeestaRiver water is playing an important role for maintaining the balance between water supply and water scarcity in this region. There is a correlation between water scarcity in the downstream and availability of water in the TeestaRiver during dry seasons.