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Using ICTs to Investigate Agricultural-Induced Eutrophication in Freshwater Reservoirs: A Case Study of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir (Russia)

Problem Description / Relevance to Water Security: 

The Tsimlyansk Reservoir in Southern Russia is of great environmental and economic importance to the region in which it is located. Formed as a result of the Tsimlyansk dam, the reservoir is relied upon for transportation, as a source of freshwater in an area that is densely populated, is used extensively for irrigation of the region’s agricultural lands, and is a source of cooling water for a nuclear power plant in the area, among a variety of other uses (Lagutov and Lagutov 2012). 

ICT Application / Outcome: 

The first step was to perform a land use classification to develop a land use land cover map to determine the extent to which agricultural lands cover the area of study. Four Landsat tiles (Figure 3), enough to cover the entire reservoir and adequate land around it, were obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey database (glovis.usgs.gov) for two dates, one at the beginning of the growing season (June-July) and one towards the end of the growing season (August)  Images were selected based on the 1) time of year, 2) satellite mission, and 3) little cloud cover.