Preliminary Assessment Of Surface Water Quality Of Tropical Pilgrimage Wetland Of Central Gujarat, India

Abstract

The present paper highlights the preliminary investigation of physico-chemical characteristics of tropical pilgrimage wetland viz. Dakor Sacred Wetland (DSW), Anand District, Central Gujarat, India. As the existing water body is contaminated with domestic sewage influenced by anthropogenic interventions, an urgent need was felt to evaluate physico-chemical parameters such as Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Total Solids (TS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Free CO2, Phenolphthalein Alkalinity (PA), Total Alkalinity (TA), Carbonates, Bicarbonates, Total Hardness, Calcium Hardness, Magnesium Hardness, Chloride, Salinity, Sulphate, Phosphate, Nitrate, Sodium, and Potassium. The obtained data were correlated statistically to draw a conclusion about the surface water quality of tropical pilgrimage wetland. Moreover, the results manifested the need and prime necessity to restore the physical, chemical and biological integrity with viable and rigorous restoration and management strategies in order to maintain, preserve, conserve and to avert the ecological imbalance and disturbance in hydro-geo-chemical and hydro-biological cycles, which adversely affect the food chain and food web of the significant pond ecosystem. International Journal of Environment, Volume-2, Issue-1, Sep-Nov 2013, Pages 202-223 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v2i1.9222

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“…The positive correlation of chloride, nitrate and total alkalinity with EC indicates that an increase in impurities in surface water enhances the number of free ions in the water leading to increased EC .The inverse relationship between EC and pH indicates that the increased ionic load to water bodies enhance the oxidation of organic matter resulting in nutrient release and decrease in pH (Watkar and Barbate, 2015 (Vishwakarma and Tripathi, 2015). increases with the increasing temperature of water (Soni and Thomas, 2013).Significant positive correlation between acidity and TDS (r=0.680, p<0.01) indicates that the oxidation of organic matter in water release nutrients and enhance acidity.…”

“…This is much higher that the tolerance limit of maximum 20 mg/l for class-A purpose suggested by the Bureau of Indian Standards (IS: 2296(IS: -1982. The high value of nitrate is linked to run-off of the organic matter from the agricultural land located at the bank of river and impeded microbial and bacterial activities (Soni and Thomas, 2013;Sreenivasulu et al, 2014). The presence of excess nitrate causes health hazards to humans.…”

“…This is much higher than the guideline value of maximum 500 mg/l for Class-A purpose suggested by the Bureau of Indian Standards (IS: 2296(IS: -1982. The high value of TDS produces aesthetically displeasing color, odor and taste to water and causes gastro intestinal irritation on consumption (Sharma and Kansal, 2011;Bhat et al, 2009;Soni and Thomas, 2013). …”

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“…The high pH can be attributed to elevated levels of major cations and anions, which can result in alkaline systems (DWAF, 1996a). Again, this can be attributed to the fact that the pH value above 8 in aquatic body is produced by photosynthetic rate that demands more carbon dioxide than quantities provided by respiration and decomposition (Wani and Subla, 1990;Soni and Thomas, 2013).…”