Understanding the relationship of land uses and water quality in Twenty First Century: A review

•This study presents a conceptual visualization of water quality assessment with existing knowledge.•It describes indices to measure water quality as well as explanatory variables to water quality.•It provides all the techniques to identify water quality explanatory variables, advantage, and disadvantage.•Finally, water quality studies conducted in different parts of the world and existing knowledge gaps.

Rising food, housing and energy demand of increasing population creates an immense pressure on water resources, especially on water quality. The water quality around the globe is degrading primarily due to intense agricultural activities associated with rapid urbanization. This study attributes to cause of water quality problem, indices to measure water quality, methods to identify proper explanatory variables to water quality and it's processing to capture the special effect, and finally modeling of water quality using identified explanatory variables to provide insights. This would help policymakers and watershed managers to take necessary steps to protect water quality for the future as well as current generation. Finally, some knowledge gaps are also discussed which need to be addressed in the future studies.