Water quality assessment of Swan River in Himachal Pradesh, India

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 4, No 3, 2013 © Copyright by the authors - Licensee IPA- Under Creative Commons license 3.0 Research article

ISSN 0976 – 4402

Water quality assessment of Swan River in Himachal Pradesh, India Sharda. A.K, Sharma. M.P Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, India [email protected] doi: 10.6088/ijes.2013040300016 ABSTRACT The paper attempts to evaluate water quality indices (WQI) using water quality parameters like pH, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Turbidity, Total coli form, Total Phosphorous, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Hardness, Chloride (Cl), Nitrate (NO3), Sulphate ( SO4) and Fluoride (F) measured at 8 locations on Swan River in HP of India. Water quality index (WQI) was determined using National Sanitation Foundation Index (NSFWQI) and overall index of pollution (OIP) on 100 & 16 point scale to assess the water quality. The observed values of indices are compared with prescribed classes and ratings, which gives an idea about remedial measures to be taken for the abatement of pollution. The results indicated that water quality of Swan river varied from ‘Good to Medium’ by NSFWQI and ‘Acceptable to slightly polluted’ by OIP method. Further the water quality of the river is found to vary between B & C as per DBU Classification of inland surface water (CPCB standards), showing that water is fit for outdoor bathing and for drinking water with conventional treatment. The BOD and DO exceeded permissible limits at most of the locations indicating the deterioration of water quality due to the lack of proper sanitation, discharge of untreated and partially treated waste waters and MSW into river. Keywords: Water Quality Index (WQI), National Sanitation Foundation NSF(WQI) Limits, Overall Index of Pollution OIP, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Most Probable Number ( MPN) 1. Introduction With increase in population coupled with urbanization and industrialization, the demand of water for large number of intended uses has increased manifold in recent years not only in India but also globally. This has led to the water quality degradation of rivers and lakes creating the overall scarcity of drinking water. The water quality is a function of large number of physico-chemical, microbial and heavy metals concentrations. The assessment of impact of industrialization and urbanization on river water quality using various water quality indices have been reported by Yanguo Teng et al.,2011. These indices are based on water quality parameters like permanganate index, (BOD5), Volatile solids, total coliform, total phosphate (TP), DO and Lead(Pb) (Teng et al., 2003). The water quality of Yamuna river has been studied by estimating the average of all the pollution indices for individual water quality parameter considered by Sargaonkar et al., (2002), who found that water quality was excellent to acceptable at Hathnikund and polluted to heavily polluted at Nizamuddin Bridge, Delhi on the basis of estimated Overall Index of Pollution (OIPs) at selected locations. Attempts were also made by Avvannavar and Shrihari.,2008 to develop WQI, involving six water quality parameters DO, BOD, MPN, Turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and pH using Bhargawa WQI and Harmonic Mean WQI

Received on September 2013 Published on November 2013

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Water quality assessment of Swan River in Himachal Pradesh, India

method. The results revealed that the impact of human activities was found severe on most of the parameters and the lack of proper sanitation, unprotected river sites and high anthropogenic activities were found as the major causes resulting in the fast deterioration of water quality. Water quality assessment of Godavari river was studied by Chavan et al., (2009), who reported the bad and medium water quality in the studied stretch of the river. Water quality assessment of Ninglad stream using benthic micro-invertebrates was studied by Sharma et al., (2008), who employed Nepalese Biotic river system (NEPBIOS) as well as NSFWQI method as a tool for water quality assessment. Water quality profile and water quality mapping of Kosi river in Uttrakhand has been studied by Sharma et al.(2009). Impact on industrial activities of an industrial area of Bangalore city was studied by Charmaine and Anitha (2010), who found that most of the water quality parameters were beyond the desired limits prescribed by BIS, thereby declaring water unsafe for human consumption. Water quality assessment of Chenab river during low flow season was studied by Bhatti and Latif (2011), who evaluated WQI for three intended uses of water (irrigation, drinking and aquatic life) using Canadian Water Quality Index(CWQI) model 1.0 developed by Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. The study found that overall WQI ranking was poor for drinking and was marginal for both irrigation and aquatic life. In view of the above literature, it is seen that WQIs has been reported powerful tool to identify the sources of pollution causing water quality deterioration and help propose remedial action plans.. Further no work is available on Swan river giving impact of industrialization and urbanization on water quality The present work therefore aims to evaluate water quality on basis of DBU, NSFWQ index and OIP as well as major parameters stressing the river and prepare action plan for remedial measures. The paper reports the evaluation of water quality of Swan river using NSFWQI and OIP at 8 locations as well as impact of major stressor impacting river quality 2. The study area The Swan river, a tributary of Sutlej, flows from the north to west direction and was also known as river of sorrow, because the floods created havoc in the catchment during monsoon periods . Accordingly Swan River Flood Management and Integrated development(SWFMID) was launched a programme to control the flood hazards and convert the river as natural gift to the people of Una district in H.P (India). Major towns located on the banks of river Swan are Gagret, Una, Mehatpur and Santokhgargh with major industrial areas located in river catchment like Industrial area Gagret, Mehatpur and Talhiwal. The total length of the river is about 85 kms, of which 65 km falls in Himachal Pradesh. The total catchment area of the river watershed is 1400 km2 with 80 tributaries contributing to the flow during monsoon period. The different types of soils in the catchment are alluvium, sand and gravel. The industrialization and urbanization has deteriorated water quality of Swan River. Which is the main source of sub soil water in catchment which is being used for domestic, industrial and irrigation purposes Venu & Rishi (2011). The Swan rRiver passes through the above mentioned three industrially developed areas with 49 of medium and 575 small scale industrial units located on both banks. As the SWFMID Project was framed by Irrigation Cum Public Health(IPH) department in order to reclaim the land by providing embankments on both banks to utilize the river water for various purposes i.e. drinking, bathing, irrigation and fisheries, it is important to assess the water quality of river.

Sharda. A.K, Sharma. M.P International Journal of Environmental Sciences Volume 4 No.3, 2013

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3. Materials and methods Eight no’s of sampling locations were selected for sample collection in the study area along the stretch of the river in order determine the water quality indices .The sampling points along with location have been shown in Table-1 and Figure-1. Table 1: Sampling locations along Swan River Sl N o

Longitude

Latitude

S1

76o 04' 20.2"E

31o 41' 14.9"N

2

S2

76o 05' 14.6"E

31o 39' 44.8"N

3

S3

76o15’10” E

31o26’57.6 ”N

4

S4

76o15’13. 4”E

31o26’55.9 ”N

S5

76o 18' 19.7" E

31o 21' 33" N

S6

76o 18' 38.6" E

31o 21' 24.9" N

1

5

6

Sampl ing Code

7

S7

76o 18' 23" E

8

S8

76o 18'

31o 19' 59.7" N

31o 19' 28"

Location of Sampling Point U/S Industrial Area Gagret

Type of Industries Located Pharmaceutical s, Pulp& Paper, Battery and D/S Industrial Steel manufacturing Area Gagret Units. There is no discharge at present to the river

Other features

Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) by individual industrial unit. There is no considerable human activities that can have impact on river water quality on the upstream stretch U/S Rampur No industrial STP available Drain carrying acivity in this and non domestic river stretch operational sewage of due to poor Una Town connectivity to house-hold D/S Rampur Drain U/S of Holy Distilleries, ETP by Drain carrying Pharmaceutical individual units industrial s, Metal and STPs effluents and finishing and proposed for sewage from Carbide Mehatpur and Mehatpur and manufacturing Santokhgargh Santokhgargh units Towns Towns D/S Industrial Area Mehatpur D/S Tahliwal Nala & MSW site carrying effluents from IA Tahliwal and Bathri through creeks and Khads to Swan River D/S of

Food ETP installed processing , by individual Starch industrial Units manufacturing, Pharmaceutical , Food and Steel units


404


29.9" E

N

Santokhgargh Town

S1 S2

S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8

Figure 1: Map of Swan River catchment with Sampling locations The sampling was conducted from July 2012 to Dec 2012 in order to assess water quality during pre and post monsoon season at each sampling locations as per standard sampling methods ( IS: 2498,1966- Part-1; APHA 1998). The parameters selected for analysis were temp (o C), pH, DO (mg/l), BOD5 (mg/l), Turbidity (NTU), MPN, TDS (mg/l), NO3-N(mg/l), Total Phosphate (mg/l), Hardness (mg/l) and Fluoride(mg/l). The standards are available for different intended water uses (CPCB Standards), WHO guidelines for drinking Sharda. A.K, Sharma. M.P International Journal of Environmental Sciences Volume 4 No.3, 2013

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water quality and classification based on pollution indices (Pi) for individual parameter to estimate OIP for surface water body. In the current study the following methods have been used for evaluating water quality indices 1) National sanitation foundation water quality index (NSFWQI) can be used to assess the water quality of any water body and is mathematically expressed as WQI= ∑ Wi Qi Where Qi : Sub Index of ith water quality parameter, Wi: Weight(in terms of importance ) of water quality parameter and N: Number of water quality parameters NSFWQI has been calculated using the software available at the web site http://www.swrp.esr.pdu.edu.Index ratings based on

100 point scale as given in Table-2.

Table 2: NSFWQI ranges NSFWQI Ranges Range

90-100

70-90

50-70

25-50

0-25

Quality

Excellent

Good

Medium

Bad

Very bad

3.1 Overall Index of Pollution, (OIP) Different water quality parameters may be used to get integrated index for decision making. An integer value in geometric progression i.e. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 is assigned corresponding to each of classes C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 respectively and accordingly, recommendations can be made regarding specific use of water. The number is known as class index which indicates numerically the level pollution and is the basis for comparison of water quality from excellent to heavily Polluted. The limits and ranges of different parameters shown in Table-3 can be estimated as the average of all the pollution indices (Pi) for individual water quality parameter considered and is given mathematically by OIP= ∑iPi /n Table 3: Classification of water quality based on OIP Excellen t

Acceptable

Classes Class Index Score

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

1

2

4

8

16

Range of OIP

0-1

1-2

2-4

4-8

8-16

Water Quality Sl No

1 2

Parameters Turbidity(NTU ) pH

Slightly Polluted

Polluted

Heavily Polluted

Concentration limit/ranges 5

10

100

250

>250

6.5-7.5

6.0-6.5and 7.5-8.0

5.0-6.0 and 8.0-9.0

4.5-5.0 and 9-

9.5


406


9.5 3

Color (Hazen)

10

150

300

600

4

DO(%)

88-112

75-125

50-150

20-200

5 6

1.5 500

3 1500

6 2100

12 3000

75

150

300

500

>500

8

BOD5 (mg/l) TDS (mg/l) Hardness asCaCO3(mg/l) Cl (mg/l)

1200 200 24 >3000

150

250

600

800

>800

9

NO3 (mg/l)

20

45

50

100

200

10

SO4 (mg/l)

150

250

400

1000

>1000

11

Total Colliform(MP N/100ml)

50

500

5000

10000

15000

12

As (mg/l)

0.005

0.01

0.05

0.1

1.3

13

F(mg/l)

1.2

1.5

2.5

6

>6

7

Where Pi= pollution index for ith parameter, i=1,2,------,n and n= number of parameters. The (Pi) called pollution index can be obtained for each parameter using mathematically expressions developed by Saragaonkar and Deshpande (2003). The interpretation of OIP is carried out in the manner similar to individual parameter index. The OIP is simple to estimate and flexible to the addition or deletion of parameters. A spatial or temporal water quality assessment can be made only when parameters included in the OIP are the same.. The numerical values of OIP corresponding to water quality classes is shown in Table-3 After OIP is estimated, the OIP can be identified for the parameters whose individual sub indices exceed the OIP and are compared with the concentrations levels ranges given in Table-3. This would help in giving warning against pollution so that necessary remedial measures may be taken. In case of Polluted and Heavily Polluted classes more stringent measures are necessary to reduce any severe impacts of water on human health, vegetation and aquatic life. 3.2 Evaluation of water quality Water quality assessment of Swan river was chosen from month of July 2012 to Dec 2012 because there is large variations in flow of river during pre and post monsoon season. The water quality indices were evaluated by both the methods using primary data as given in Table-4 and compared with standards and rating curves. The average value of parameters at each sampling location is considered in the study for evaluation of WQI and OIP as shown in Table-5


407


Table 4: Month wise water quality of Swan river (July 2012 to Dec 2012)


408


Table 5: WQI on the basis of average values of parameters (July 2012 to Dec 2012)

As seen from the table-5, it is found that at sampling locations from S1 to S4 falls under acceptable water quality category While from location S5-S6 are slightly polluted These results are indicative of the fact that pollution from S1-S4 is very less due to lesser urbanization and industrial activities, while pollution in S5-S8 is due to significant growth of major industrial units and urbanization and accordingly remedial measures are required.

4. Results and Discussions Water quality assessment Figure 2 and Figure 3 compares WQI and OIP of all locations with standards respectively

Figure 2: Water Quality Index NSF (WQI)


409


Figure 3: Water Quality Index (OIP) The relation between WQI and OIP is shown in figure-4, which indicates that water quality in the river at sampling locations S1,S2,S3 and S4 falls under good and acceptable category but there is decrease in WQI from 82.2 to 70.39 and increase in OIP values from 1.49 to 1.79 which show marginal impact of industrialization and urbanization on river water quality.

Figure 4: Relationship between WQI and OIP at the sampling locations The water quality is found medium and slightly polluted at other locations (S5, S6, S7 and S8). The intersection of line of WQI and OIP indicates that water quality has started to deteriorate after sampling location S5, i.e. u/s of Holi Drain. The corresponding WQI and OIP at the point of intersection are 65 and 2.225 respectively, and the water quality belongs to medium and slightly polluted as determined by both the methods. The WQI and OIP at sampling locations S6,S7 and S8 is found slightly polluted due to more industrialization and urbanization in the river catchment. The effluent from major water polluting industries located in the industrial areas is discharged into the Swan River. Sharda. A.K, Sharma. M.P International Journal of Environmental Sciences Volume 4 No.3, 2013

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Although the industrial units have waste treatment systems to treat their waste but the complexity of the effluent characterization makes it extremely difficult to meet the statutory standards despite the best efforts made by the industries. The lack of proper management of waste water generation, solid waste management and scarcity of fund, the impacts of conservation measures on part of local bodies has proved to be ineffective resulting in increased pollution in study stretch of Swan river. To deal with pollution from S5 to S8, MSW management the installation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and STPs in Mehatpur and Santokhgargh towns is suggested 4.1 Impact of major water quality parameters The water quality data indicates the DO and BOD5 are main stressor parameters impacting the water quality of the river.

Figure 5: DO and BOD variations at sampling locations The variation of DO and BOD5 at sampling locations is shown in figure- 5. Which shows that DO is found above desired limit (> 5.0 mg/l) as per DBU classification of streams by CPCB. The water quality belongs to B class at all locations except S6, D/S of Holi drain. The DO drops from 8.12 mg/l (S1) to 3.66mg/l (S6) clearly showing the impacts of urbanization and industrialization. The improvement in DO (6.06 mg/l) can be attributed to the pollution control measures undertaken by the industries and self purification mechanism of the river. Further based water class A,B and C has BOD values below 2 and 3mg/l.. The variation in BOD values reflect the marginal impact of industrialization and urbanization at S2 (d/s of industrial area Gagret). The BOD falls to 1.92 at S4 due to self purification of the river and increases further to 2.34, 3.78, 3.22 and 3.9mg/l respectively at S5,S6,S7 and S8 respectively, which are located on the downstream of Mehatpur and Santokhgargh towns growing as main urban and industrial centres 5. Conclusion Swan river is the only perennial surface water source in the catchment which recharges the shallow aquifers being used for irrigation and domestic purposes, it was important to study the impacts due to ongoing urbanization and industrialization. Accordingly the evaluation of water quality indices of river has been done by considering important parameters like pH, Turbidity, Colour, DO, BOD, , TDS, Hardness, NO3, Fluoride and Total coli form. The Sharda. A.K, Sharma. M.P International Journal of Environmental Sciences Volume 4 No.3, 2013

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concentration of these parameters as observed in the study conducted for the period between July 2012 to Dec 2012 was compared with National/ International Agencies standards and other reported scientific information for evaluating water quality indices. In the present study the indices values have been estimated at various sampling locations along the stretch of Swan river to ascertain the suitability of water for designated best use at particular location and to determine the level of treatment required for the individual parameter. As the WQI has been found as good (70.39 to 82.2) and OIP as acceptable(1.49 to 1.79) in the upper reaches and has been found as medium(60.27 to 63.41) and slightly polluted (2.01 to 2.50) in lower reaches respectively , so it can be concluded that the proper planning and management of this resource is important for efficient use. Thus, the water quality assessment by calculating WQIs is a very useful attempt providing awareness among the public for knowing surface water quality status that can be used as a powerful tool in formulating strategies for control of pollution in terms of treatment required at different levels. 6. References 1. APHA : (2005), Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water, 21st EDn, American Public Health Association, Washington. 2. Avvannavar, S.M. and Shrihari.S., (2008), Evaluation of water quality index for drinking purposes for river Netravathi, manglore, South India, Journal of environment monitoring assessment, 143, pp 273-290 3. Bhargwa, D.S., Saxena, B.S., and Dewakar(1998). A study of geopollutants in the Godavary river basin in India. Asian Environment, pp 36-59 4. Burden, F.R., Mc Kelvie,I., Forstener,U., and Guenther,A., (2002), Environmental Monitoring Handbook, New York, pp 3.1-3.21. 5. Chavan, A.D., Sharma M.P., and Bhargwa.R., (2009), Water quality assessment of Godavari river, Journal of water, Energy and environment (Hydro Nepal), 5, pp 3134 6. CPCB, ADSPRBS/3: 1978-1979, Scheme for Zoning and Classification of Indian rivers 7. Dwivedi,S., Tiwari, I.C., and Bhargwa, D.S., (1997), Water quality of river Ganga at Varanasi. Institute of Engineers, Kolkota ,78, pp 1-4 8. Indian Standard Specification for Drinking water, (1983), IS-10500-1983, Indian standard institution, New Delhi 9. Jerome, C and Pius A., (2010), Evaluation of water quality index and its impact on quality of life in an industrial area in Banglore, South India, American journal of scientific and industrial research, 1(3), pp 595-603 10. Metcalf and Eddy (eds): (1972), Waste Water Engineering : Collection, Treatment and Disposal, McGraw Hill, New York, p 740


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