Assessing Riverbank Change Caused by Sand Mining and Waste Disposal Using Web-Based Volunteered Geographic Information

Abstract

River water is one of the most important natural resources for economic development and environmental sustainability. However, river water systems are vulnerable in some of the densely populated regions across the globe. Intense sand mining and waste disposal can lead to river changes, loose foundations, and biodiversity loss. This study aims to develop a web-based geographic information system (GIS) platform to monitor river channel changes and their impacts on river environments due to sand mining and waste burial. The system integrates open-source software, Windows Server 2012, a web server, and PostgreSQL with PostGIS plugins for efficient mapping and storage of geospatial data and volunteered reporting of location events. Interferometric methods, including SNAP2STAMPS Automated Algorithm, persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI), small baseline subset (SBAS), and Snap software, were used to analyze spatial changes of subsidence from Sentinel-1 satellite data from 2021 to 2023 in the Gadar River in Oshnavieh, Iran. The results showed that the maximum subsidence at the riverbank was −10.1 cm due to sand mining, and the maximum uplift was 8.2 cm due to waste landfilling. The average subsidence was reported to be −5.1 cm. The results emphasize spatial analysis, showcasing material mining’s impact on subsidence trends and underscoring the significance of public participation in monitoring river health. Three parameters—completeness, correctness, and quality—were used to validate the system. Validation results showed completeness, correctness, and quality rates of 94.15%, 92.48%, and 86.63%, respectively.