Land use and land cover (LULC) benefit hydrology by enhancing water quality, flood control, and groundwater recharge. Vegetated areas, like forests and crop land, act as natural filters, reducing pollutants, and stabilizing soil to prevent erosion. They also absorb and slow runoff, mitigating floods, and allowing water to infiltrate and recharge groundwater. LULC influences local climate, affecting precipitation and evaporation rates crucial to the water cycle, and helps maintain a stable water supply. Moreover, sustainable LULC protects habitats for aquatic species, supporting biodiversity and ecosystem health, ensuring a resilient and balanced hydrological system. There is a need to see the effect of LULC change on the discharge and nearby stream landcover for better management. A study was conducted to assess the impact of historical land cover changes from 2000 and 2023 on the hydrological response of the Reedy River basin Greenville County, South Carolina (SC). Land cover changes were analyzed using Landsat satellite images processed through Google Earth Engine and pre-classified images from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) dataset. The effects of these changes on discharge patterns were evaluated using discharge data obtained from the USGS National Water Dashboard. Physically based parameters for hydrological models were estimated using land cover change maps, along with precipitation and temperature data, through multiple regression analysis. The study found that the R 2 value was higher, at 95%, for the MRLC dataset compared to 68% for the Landsat 7 imagery. Despite the Landsat imagery showing significant changes (p<0.05), the MRLC dataset exhibited greater accuracy. Due to the lower accuracy and higher fluctuations observed with Landsat 7 imagery, the MRLC dataset was selected to identify nearby landcover for better management of riparian areas, utilizing the cost distance tool and stream raster in ArcGIS Pro. The result contributed to identify an area which affect the streams negatively.