CAMINHOS DE GEOGRAFIA - revista on line http://www.ig.ufu.br/revista/caminhos.html ISSN 1678-6343 Instituto de Geografia ufu Programa de Pós-graduação em Geografia Caminhos de Geografia Uberlândia v. 12, n. 39 set/2011 p. 283 - 296 Página 283 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF FLOOD AND THEIR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT IN DELTAIC REGION OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA 1 Vibhas Chandra Jha Professor and Ex-Head Department of Geography,Visva-Bharati University Santiniketan731235, West Bengal, India, vcjha@asia.com Haraprasad Bairagya Researcher, Dept. of Geography, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, India, hbairagya7@gmail.com ABSTRACT Flood is one of the basic factors for sustainable development and environmental management in the humid, tropical and sub-tropical regions. Flood characteristics decide the status of the terrain for its capability for sustaining the increased population of that area. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze the flood characteristics using the Gumble‟s Method and their impact on sustainable development and environmental management in the Deltaic Region of West Bengal, India. The Murshidabad District of the West Bengal State, India has been selected as a case study to assess the environmental impact of flood and their characteristics which includes different measures like flood elevation, discharge, volume and duration. The physical and socio-economic condition of the study-area have also been analyzed. An attempt has also been made to suggest some measures for the development of the study-area. Key Words: Flood, Flood Plain, Flood Characteristics, Gumble‟s Method, Sustainable Development and Environmental Management INTRODUCTION Flood in deltaic region is a disaster which can destroy the total environmental set up of the area. It causes river bank erosion, depression of land, shifting of river course, river channel widening etc due to it‟s high discharge, elevation, volume and longer duration. It leads to create agricultural deficiency, unemployment, sexual exploitation, and even starvation death. So, proper and scientific management of the flood in this district is necessary to solve the environmental problems to give better life for the next generation population. The district of Murshidabad is in the northern part of Brahmaputra Delta. It is a low flat terrain having elevation of 10-30m above the m.s.l in Ganga Brahamputra Delta. Delta building processes are active over southern part, while northern part in which the Murshidabad district is situated, shows the characteristics of a mature deltaic landscape. This Delta is named as „khadar‟. The „khadar‟ deposits are as a resultant feature confined to the vicinity of the present channels. The clays have less „Kankar‟ and the organic remains. The „Khadar‟ imperceptibly merges into the deltaic and other accumulations of the pre-historic times. The delta of Ganga-Brahmaputra is merely the sea ward prolongation of the „Khadar‟ deposits of the respective river valleys. The present study aims to analyze the flood characteristics using the Gumble‟s Method and their impact on sustainable development and environmental management in the Deltaic Region of West Bengal, India. To assess the environmental impact of flood, the following objectives have been considered relevant for this study. Various Workers in the field of applied hydrology have attempted as basics and case studies in different parts of West Bengal. Particular mention may be made of P.K. Basu, M.C.Burke, V.T. Chow, D.R Maidment, L.W Mays, D.N Wadia, Aveek Datta, Anjan Dasgupta, S. K. Garg, „O‟ Mally, Chandan Ray, K Subramanya, K Rudra, and Islam Khan Zafarul. 1 Recebido em 20/07/2011 Aprovado para publicação em 28/08/2011