ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic activities have become one of the significant factors in controlling river and its morphological aspects through river regulations, dam constructions, deforestation, urbanisations, sand mining, embankment constructions and so on. After independence in 1947, several developmental works have been started in India as well as in West Bengal. This chapter will show how the anthropogenic activities have been altering the channel morphology of Dwarkeswar River, which is one of the largest rivers in the western part of West Bengal. Several kinds of secondary and primary data have been taken into consideration to fulfil the objectives of the study. It has been found that huge amount of deforestation had been done and several anthropogenic activities such as urbanisation, embankment, sand mining and other types of river regulation activities are going on. Results show accelerated rate of soil erosion especially in the upper part, alteration of channel flow, channel plan-form, channel width, flow direction, pool-refill sequence and longitudinal connectivity of the river is taking place due to numerous anthropogenic activities on this river and its basin. Therefore, this chapter will help to better understand the river and its basin for achieving sustainable development.
