Assessment of Physicochemical characteristics of Kalyani River, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

The current study aims to assess the water quality as well as potential sources of contamination in the Kalyani River by taking into account effluent discharged from SIIDCUL industries. Water samples were collected from three different sampling locations and analysed for physicochemical water quality parameters. The water quality was relatively better at upstream (site KR1) of the river, whereas physicochemical parameters became impaired at sites KR2 and KR3, implying significant pollution of the river from SIIDCUL industry effluents and municipal drains from Rudarapur city. Among the three sampling sites, site KR2 recorded high concentration of COD (1010 mg/l) and BOD (230 mg/l. These findings, however, indicated that site KR1 was the most polluted, most likely because it was the point of industrial effluent discharge. A comparison of the measured parameters to the national and international standards established by the EPA Rule (1986) and WHO (2008) reveals that all of the parameters measured (except TDS) exceeded the standards. This indicates that the river water was extremely polluted and thus unfit for domestic, agricultural, or industrial use. Therefore, it recommended that the government and other responsible authorities take appropriate corrective action and support further research on other physical, chemical, and untested biological parameters of significant health concern, as well as the identification of potential sources of the river's contaminants.