International Journal of Science and Engineering Volume 1, Number 1 - 2013 PP-09-14 ©IJSE Available at www.ijse.org ISSN-2347-2200

Determination of water quality index for the evaluation of surface water quality for drinking purpose D.R. Khanna1, R. Bhutiani1, Bharti Tyagi1, Prashant Kumar Tyagi 1and Mukesh Ruhela2 1

Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, 2 Department of Environment Science, Vishveshwaraiya Group of Institution, Dadri, Ghaziabad Corresponding Author: Dr. R. Bhutiani

Abstract-Water quality was determined at four sites at a stretch of 5 Km of the river Ganga in Haridwar city (Site 1st Harkipauri, Site 2nd Birla ghat, Site 3rd s Mayapur and Site 4th Singhdwar) for a period of 1 year (January 2009 to December 2009). Relatively low values of turbidity, COD, total alkalinity and total hardness were recorded at Site 1 and Site 3 and site 4 as compared to Site 2. On the basis of water quality standards given by Central Pollution Control Board, the water quality at all the four sites was found to be in category A-C. The mean values of these parameters were compared with WHO and ISI standards. For computation of water quality rating and water quality index, thirteen parameters were considered. The water quality index at stations Site1, Site 2, Site 3 and Site 4 was 64.80, 57.29, 59.09 and 59.22 respectively. Keywords: Physico chemical parameters, River Ganga, Water pollution, Water quality index

I. Introduction Nature can fulfill our need, but not the greed. Water is a non renewable resource as we all are acquainted with the fact, even than exploitation in an unsustainable manner has left this resource with deformed quality almost everywhere. Urbanization, Industrialization and many other anthropogenic activities as well as few natural processes affect the water resources badly. Unplanned resource consumption finally put threat to the water ecosystem. Water bodies are usually taken as the dumping grounds for domestic and industrial sewage. Rivers are the most important natural resource for human development and plight of Indian River is not hidden anymore (Mishra et al., 2009). In the last few decades, there has been increasingly greater emphasis on the deterioration of water quality of Indian rivers (Singh and Nautiyal 1990; Trivedy et al. 1990; Kishor et al. 1998). Polluted river water means affected physico-chemical parameters which will further affect the species interaction and delicate food web in the aquatic ecosystem. Further use of this water will have drastic negative impact on the health of community residing in the nearby region and using this water for various purposes. So it is must to monitor river water time to time to observe its pollution status and pollution causing factors. Such studies can be of much significance in making the mass aware of deteriorating river water quality and about their use of water for various purposes. Haridwar city a place revered as the Gateway to God, here tourist and religious activities are held throughout the year at large scale. All these anthropogenic activities lastly exert deteriorating impact on the river water quality. A huge part of community in this city depends on the water of river Ganga to fulfill their daily need. Thus it is the need of hour to monitor river water here at times, so that further mitigation measures can be taken to make the river water clean over here.Water quality index is wellknown method as well as one of the most effective tools to expressing water quality that offers a simple measure and communicate information of water quality to the concerned citizens and policy makers. It, thus, becomes an important parameter for the assessment and management of surface water. Water Quality Index is defined as a rating reflecting the composite influence of different water quality parameters. WQI is calculated from the point of view of the suitability of surface water for human consumption (Atulegwu and Njoku, 2004). The general WQI was developed by Brown et al. (1970) and improved by Deininger for the Scottish Development

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Determination of water quality index for the evaluation of surface water quality for drinking purpose

Department (1975). Water quality index was first formulated by Horton (1965) and later on used by several workers for the quality assessment of different water resources.Much of the work has been done on the water quality indices of several rivers of India and abroad by various workers viz., Bhatt and Pathak (1992), Kumar and Shukla (2002), Patil et al. (2006), Sindhu and Sharma (2007), Santosh and Shrihari (2008), Ramakrishanaiah et al. (2009), Samantray et al. (2009). So, present investigation has been made to evaluate the pollution status in the river Ganga at Haridwar city for drinking purpose using Water Quality Index. II. Study area River Ganga, the national river of the India, rising in the Himalayan Mountains from the Gangotri glacier and flowing about 2,525 km generally eastward through a vast plain to the Bay of Bengal. It flows southeast and travels about 200 km through the Himalayas, the Ganges emerges at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar. During this study period physico-chemical and microbiological parameters of river Ganges were studied. The water samples were collected from four sites Har-ki-Pauri, Birla ghat, Mayapur and Singhdwar. First site, that is Har-ki-Pauri, this site has the maximum anthropogenic activities happening round the year. Second site, Birla ghat, is located 1 Km downstream the first site. Third site, Mayapur is1 Km far from the second site (Birla ghat). Singhdwar the fourth and last site is approximately 1-2 Km distant from the third site (Mayapur).All these four sites are located in Haridwar city. This region is situated in the western part of Uttarakhand state of India. Its latitude and longitude are 29◦58” degree north and 78◦13” degree east respectively. The height from the sea level is 249.7 mt. III. Material and methods The parameters which we analysed in this study are temperature (°C), turbidity(N.T.U), total dissolved solids(mg/l), pH, conductivity (siemens/cm),alkalinity(mg/l),Total hardness (mg/l), dissolved oxygen (mg/l), chemical oxygen demand (mg/l), biological oxygen demand (mg/l), Phosphate (mg/l), Nitrate (mg/l), Sulphate (mg/l) and Most probable number/100ml. Parameters like temperature, pH and fixation of dissolved oxygen were determined on the spot, rest were analysed in the laboratory. The physico-chemical and microbiological parameters were determined according to procedures outlined in Trivedi and Goel (1986), APHA (1998) and Khanna and Bhutiani (2004). IV. Water quality index computation Nine parameters were taken for water quality index calculation using Bhargava water quality index (Bhargava, 1983, 87). Water quality index = QiWi Where, Qi (water quality rating) = =actual value present in the water sample =ideal value (0 for all parameters except pH and DO which are 7.0 and 14.6 mg/l respectively). = standard value. Wi(Unit weight) = K/Sn Where, K (constant) = Sn= standard value.

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R. Khanna et al.

V. Results and Discussion: The highest value of temperature was noted to be 23.15 °C and the least value (14.00 °C) was observed to be at site 2nd. Mishra et al. (2009) observed the equivalent results in the River Ganga in Varanasi. Turbidity exhibited the highest value at all the four sites (6.00 NTU), while the least value was found to be 2.00 NTU. Badola and Singh (1981) investigated almost alike trend in the rivers of Garhwal region. Total dissolved solids were observed to be the highest (140.00 mg/l) at 2nd site and the minimum value was noticed at site 1st (8.00 mg/l). Same thing was observed by Khanna et al. 2006 in Suswa River and Abbasi et al. (1996) in Punmurpuzha River of Kerala.The maximum amount of Conductivity was noted to be 234.00 siemen/cm at fourth site and the minimum value (99.00 siemen/cm) was noticed at second site. Semwal and Akolkar (2006) found the value of conductivity in between 172.75 to 175.00 siemen/cm while working on river Ganga. Dissolved oxygen showed the extreme value (11.48 mg/l) at second site, while the least value was observed to be 8.14 mg/l at second site itself. Biochemical oxygen demand displayed the highest value (3.29 mg/l) and the lowest value (1.22 mg/l) at site second. Khaiwal et al. (2003) and Khanna et al. (2007) noted the similar thing in river Yamuna and in river Song correspondingly. The minimum value as well as maximum value of chemical oxygen demand were observed to be 4.00 mg/l and 10.00 mg/l respectively. Khanna et al. (2007) worked on the River Ganga and found average value of chemical oxygen demand 3.94 mg/l.The Ganga water contained highest alkalinity (190.42 mg/l) during course of this study at site second followed by a gradual decrease to its lowest value (45.33 mg/l) at the first site.Same observation was also made by Holden and Green (1960). The maximum (163.52 mg/l) hardness of water was recorded at second site and the minimum (60.00 mg/l) at site second. Khanna et al. (2007) found average value of total hardness 12.71 mg/l while working on river Ganges. The nitrate ranged from 0.01 mg/l to 0.09 mg/l, while Phosphate fluctuated from 0.02 mg/l to 0.09 mg/l. The sulphate was found to be maximum (24.56 mg/l) at second site and minimum (16.48 mg/l) at third site. Most probable number ranged from 200/100 ml to 2166.66/100 ml. Because site 1st and the site 2nd are the sites, where tourist activities and bathing activities takes place at large scale in all the seasons. Second site receives domestic sewage too, so heavy influx of organic load is noticed here. Parameters like turbidity, COD, total alkalinity and total hardness phosphate and nitrate were higher at site 2nd than other three sites. This was because of increase in pollution load by domestic sewage, addition of nutrients, agricultural runoff and organic matter in water (Sharpley and Menzel 1987, Gupta et al. 2003,Sanapet al. 2006).

Table 4: Water quality standards for drinking purpose recommended by WHO (1999) and BIS (IS: 10500, 1991)

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Determination of water quality index for the evaluation of surface water quality for drinking purpose

Table 1: Mean values and fluctuations among physicochemical parameters at various sites from January 2009 to December 2009

Table 3: Water quality ratings and water quality indices for River Ganga

Table 5: Water quality criteria recommended by central pollution control board, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Government of India. Designated BestUse Drinking Water Source without conventional treatment but after

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Class of water

Criteria

A

Total Coliforms Organism MPN/100ml shall be 50 or less

R. Khanna et al. disinfection

Outdoor bathing (Organised)

B

Drinking water source after conventional treatment and disinfection

C

Propagation of Wild life and Fisheries

D

Irrigation, Industrial Cooling, Controlled Waste disposal

E

pH between 6.5 and 8.5 Dissolved Oxygen 6mg/l or more Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 days 20°C 2mg/l or less Total Coliforms Organism MPN/100ml shall be 500 or less pH between 6.5 and 8.5 Dissolved Oxygen 5mg/l or more Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 days 20°C 3mg/l or less Total Coliforms Organism MPN/100ml shall be 5000 or less pH between 6 to 9 Dissolved Oxygen 4mg/l or more Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 days 20°C 3mg/l or less pH between 6.5 to 8.5 Dissolved Oxygen 4mg/l or more Free Ammonia (as N) 1.2 mg/l or less pH betwwn 6.0 to 8.5 Electrical Conductivity at 25°C micro mhos/cm Max.2250 Sodium absorption Ratio Max. 26 Boron Max. 2mg/l

http://www.cpcbnic.in/classi.htm At third and fourth sites lesser tourist activities are happened and as result these sites receive lower amount of organic and inorganic pollutants. Water quality index provide information on a rating scale from zero to hundred. Higher value of WQI indicates better quality of water and lower value shows poor water quality.Water quality index (WQI) is the most effective way to communicate water quality. Water quality index (WQI) = 0 means complete absence of pollutants. When 0 < 100, indicates the water is under consideration and fit for human use and WQI > 100 reflects its unsuitability for human use (Bahera et al., 2004). Water quality index for nine analyzed physicochemical parameters of river Ganga at Site 1st, Site 2nd, Site 3rd and Site 4th was 64.80, 57.29, 59.09 and 59.22 respectively (Table 3). Present values indicate that WQI falls in the range of Poor at all the four sites.The data (Tables 1 and 4) showing comparison of the various physicochemical parameters of the water of river Ganga with National and International standards (WHO 1992 and ISI 1973) exposes that most of the parameters analyzed were within the permissible limits.Based on certain parameters, Central Pollution Control Board has classified fresh waters into five classes (A, B, C, D, and E) suitable for various purposes (Table 5). On the basis of this classification, the water at all the four sites could be categorized as A–C. Based on WQI and on comparing the water quality parameters with national and international standards, it could be inferred that water quality at these above mentioned four sites is poor and can only be used for drinking after conventional treatment and disinfection. References: APHA, 1998. Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water (20th ed.). Washington: American Public Health Association. Abbasi, S.A., Arya, D.S., Ahmed, A.S. and Abbasi, N., 1996.Water quality of a typical river Punnurpuzha of Kerala.Pollution Research, 15(2):163-166. Atulegwu, P.U. and Njoku, J.D.,2004.The impact of biocides on the water quality.Int. Res. J. Eng. Sci. Technol., 1:47-52. Badola, S.P. and Singh, H.R., 1981. Hydrobiology of the river Alaknanda of Garhwal Himalaya.Ind. J. Eco., 8(2):269-276. Bahera, H., Pal, L. and Rout, S.P. 2004. Seasonal variations in the water quality index for VaniViharleke in Bhuvaneshwar. In:Water pollution (Ed: Aravind Kumar). A.P.H. Publ. Corp, New Delhi, 199-209. Bhargava, D.S., 1983.Use of a water quality index for river classification and zoning of the Ganga River.Environmental Pollution, 6:51-67. Bhargava, D.S., 1987, Nature and the Ganga.Environment Conservation, 14:307-318.

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Determination of water quality index for the evaluation of surface water quality for drinking purpose

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