Bihar - Ministry of Environment and Forests

7.1.22 Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur district lies between 25º 03’ to 25º 31' north latitudes and 86º 38’ to 87º 33' east longitudes.
The district covers a total area of 2502 sq. km. The climate of this district is on the whole dry, hot in summer
and cold in winter.
The district, Bhagalpur is situated in the south-west portion of Bihar state. The river Ganga crosses the district
from west to east and divides it into two uneven parts, the smaller portion is North Bhagalpur and larger one is
South Bhagalpur. In northern portion the surface of the land is plain and it’s very fertile. In southern portion of
the district, there are several streams, having their sources in the hills of sanathal paraganas. The river Ganga
is divided into two currents at Sultangaj, one towards north east and other towards east. The remarkable
formation of limestone, about two miles broad, runs almost continuously beside the river. This area is covered
with dense forest. On leaving this belt, the district is found to be very low and almost treeless to the south.
The total wetland area in the district is 24171 ha, which includes the area contributed by 427 small wetlands
(< 2.25 ha) which comprises 9.6 per cent of the geographical area of the district. Rivers/streams comprise
about 89 per cent of wetland extent of the district that accounts for 21446 ha. The other major wetland types
are ox-bow lakes/Cut-off meanders (1034 ha), lakes/Ponds (558 ha), natural waterlogged (445 ha).
The fluctuation in open water spread is around 37 per cent from post-monsoon (16237 ha) which has shown
a decrease to 10273 ha in pre-monsoon. Qualitative turbidity is observed to be dominantly low (12628 ha)
followed by moderate (3489 ha) and high (120 ha) in post-monsoon. However, in pre-monsoon moderate
turbidity (10265 ha) singularly dominated the open water.
Aquatic vegetation was found to be 389 ha in post-monsoon has shown a decrease to 152 ha in
pre-monsoon. Details of the wetland statistics of the district are given in Table 27.
Table 27: Area estimates of wetlands in Bhagalpur
Area in ha
Sr.
No.
Wettcode
Wetland Category
Number
of
Wetlands
Total
Wetland
area
% of
wetland
area
Open Water
Postmonsoon
area
Premonsoon
area
1100 Inland Wetlands - Natural
1 1101 Lakes/Ponds 16 558 2.31 406 205
2 1102 Ox-bow lakes/ Cut-off meanders 63 1034 4.28 881 324
3 1103 High altitude wetlands - - - - -
4 1104 Riverine wetlands 23 157 0.65 141 62
5 1105 Waterlogged 21 445 1.84 427 411
6 1106 River/Stream 28 21446 88.73 14317 9207
1200 Inland Wetlands -Man-made
7 1201 Reservoirs/Barrages 1 5 0.02 5 -
8 1202 Tanks/Ponds 26 99 0.41 60 64
9 1203 Waterlogged - - - - -
10 1204 Salt pans - - - - -
Sub-Total 178 23744 98.23 16237 10273
Wetlands (