Integration of Surface Water Protection Into Land Management in Ukraine: Case Study of the Seret River

Abstract

Aim of the studyThe aim of the article is to analyze current approaches and investigate some possible new approaches to planning and implementation of restrictions related to the protection of water and aimed at the regulation of land use. Material and methodsThe proposed approach to surface water protection suggests imposing water protection restrictions of land use. This requires developing a land use management project. Designing water protection zones and nearshore protective belts is based on the consideration of options generated by geo-information modeling and use of remote sensing data. The operational options of ArcGIS 10.7 were used as basic software for the performance of the spatial analysis of data. The research territory for seeking confirmation of the proposed methods of projecting water protection zones and near-shore protective belts covered a part of the Seret river and its basin, located within the administrative borders of the Zalishchyky district of the Ternopil region. Results and conclusionsThe results of our research demonstrate that development of a land management project consisting in establishing water protection zones and near-shore protective belts with a specific regime of farming within relevant borders should become one of the most important mechanisms to prevent contamination, reduce flood risk, and improve sanitary-hygienic conditions of water-defined entities, processes, and activities. While developing the land management project, the authors performed calculation of the width of the water protection zone according to the principle of the reference value of an optimal width of the belt, which could catch the surface slope runoff.