Chapter 9
Riparian Ecotones: An Important
Derivative for Managing River Pollution
Shikha Sharma, Madhoolika Agrawal, and Arijit Roy
9.1 Introduction
The rivers around the world have been attempted with technological know how
while addressing the issues of water pollution. Recently, Rowinski et al. (2018)
suggested for nature-based solutions (NBS), a solution which mimics nature while
restoring the degrading rivers. The NBS emphasises over the role and importance of
riparian vegetation in improving the water quality. The importance of establishing
the riparian ecotones for maintaining the water quality has been emphasised since the
1980s (Roberts and Krishnaswami 1982; Sirenko 1981).
The word “riparian” has been defined variedly in the literature and has been
associated with variable suffixes. However, riparian vegetation in most simplistic
manner designates to the vegetation flanking the riverbank. These vegetation are the
diversified ecosystem encompassing the distinct biological diversity, capable of
bringing physiochemical and biological changes in the environment (Tabacchi
et al. 2000) and are also proving to be efficient solutions for scrubbing harmful
pollutants entering the river (Rowinski et al. 2018).
Several researchers via both field and laboratory experiments have established
that vegetation along the riverbank has shown equal or better performance than grey
infrastructure employed for improving the river water quality (Rowinski et al. 2018;
Liquete et al. 2016; Gonzalez et al. 2015). On the broad scale, the vegetation in the
riparian ecotone reduces the impact of pollutants on the river environment by acting
as a barrier trapping and breaking down the pollutants or sometimes even processing
S. Sharma · A. Roy (*)
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Organisation, Dehradun, India
e-mail: arijitroy@iirs.gov.in
M. Agrawal
Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_9
201
Riparian Ecotones: An Important
Derivative for Managing River Pollution
Shikha Sharma, Madhoolika Agrawal, and Arijit Roy
9.1 Introduction
The rivers around the world have been attempted with technological know how
while addressing the issues of water pollution. Recently, Rowinski et al. (2018)
suggested for nature-based solutions (NBS), a solution which mimics nature while
restoring the degrading rivers. The NBS emphasises over the role and importance of
riparian vegetation in improving the water quality. The importance of establishing
the riparian ecotones for maintaining the water quality has been emphasised since the
1980s (Roberts and Krishnaswami 1982; Sirenko 1981).
The word “riparian” has been defined variedly in the literature and has been
associated with variable suffixes. However, riparian vegetation in most simplistic
manner designates to the vegetation flanking the riverbank. These vegetation are the
diversified ecosystem encompassing the distinct biological diversity, capable of
bringing physiochemical and biological changes in the environment (Tabacchi
et al. 2000) and are also proving to be efficient solutions for scrubbing harmful
pollutants entering the river (Rowinski et al. 2018).
Several researchers via both field and laboratory experiments have established
that vegetation along the riverbank has shown equal or better performance than grey
infrastructure employed for improving the river water quality (Rowinski et al. 2018;
Liquete et al. 2016; Gonzalez et al. 2015). On the broad scale, the vegetation in the
riparian ecotone reduces the impact of pollutants on the river environment by acting
as a barrier trapping and breaking down the pollutants or sometimes even processing
S. Sharma · A. Roy (*)
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Indian Space Organisation, Dehradun, India
e-mail: arijitroy@iirs.gov.in
M. Agrawal
Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_9
201