Bihar - Ministry of Environment and Forests

7.1.35 Gaya
The district lies between 24º 15’ to 25º 15' north latitudes and 84º 16’ to 85º 24' east longitudes. The district
covers a total area of 4941 sq. km. The climate of this district is on the whole dry, hot in summer and mild cold
in winter.
The district of Gaya is broadly divided into two distinct physical units. The south is a region of broken
undulating country merging into long ranges of hills, with a wide belt of brushwood jungle at their base.
The greater part of the district, however, consists of the flat alluvial plain. Since the highlands lie in the
southern and lowlands in the northern parts of the district, the river take their rise in the highland of the Chota
Nagpur Plateau and flow from south to north in almost parallel courses. On account of the seasonal character
of rainfall the stream suffers from a lack of perennial supply of water in them, and hence they are turbulent and
devastating during the rains but are reduce to tiny rivulets winding in tortuous course over wide sandy beds
soon after the rainy season is over.
The total wetland area in the district is 11422 ha, which includes the area contributed by 405 small wetlands
(< 2.25 ha) which comprises about 2 per cent of the geographical area of the district. Rivers/streams comprise
about 93 per cent of wetland extent of the district that accounts for 10620 ha. The other major wetland types
are natural waterlogged (225 ha) and tanks/ponds (114 ha).
The fluctuation in open water spread is around 84 per cent from post-monsoon (3979 ha) which has shown
a decrease to 626 ha in pre-monsoon. Qualitative turbidity is observed to be dominantly moderate (3025 ha)
followed by low (882 ha) and high (72 ha) in post-monsoon. However, in pre-monsoon it is observed to be
moderate (527 ha) and high (99 ha) in the open water.
Aquatic vegetation was found to be 5 ha in post-monsoon has shown to be double (10 ha) in pre-monsoon.
Details of the wetland statistics of the district are given in Table 40.
Table 40: Area estimates of wetlands in Gaya
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 3 58 0.51 53 52
2 1102 Ox-bow lakes/ Cut-off meanders - - - - -
3 1103 High altitude wetlands - - - - -
4 1104 Riverine wetlands - - - - -
5 1105 Waterlogged 39 225 1.97 214 81
6 1106 River/Stream 19 10620 92.98 3600 441
1200 Inland Wetlands -Man-made
7 1201 Reservoirs/Barrages - - - - -
8 1202 Tanks/Ponds 31 114 1.00 112 52
9 1203 Waterlogged - - - - -
10 1204 Salt pans - - - - -
Sub-Total 92 11017 96.45 3979 626
Wetlands (