Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical SciencesISSN: 0974-2115 Spatial Analysis of Water Quality Parameters in Bhavani River Janani K, V Gokulnath Department of Civil Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, Chennai *Corresponding author: E-Mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Due to rapid economic activity in lower Bhavani basin, there is an increase in the amount of contaminants discharged into the river. Not only were the industrial and also domestic wastes being discharged into the river affecting its quality to great extent. Hence water quality modeling is necessary to check whether the water quality is within the standards. This paper discuss the spatial variation in river water quality parameters of Bhavani River, . To analyse it samples were taken along the course (head, middle and tail) of the river. From the analysis it is evident that the salinity of river is varying from head to tail end of Bhavani River. KEY WORDS: Bhavani River, water quality, salinity. 1. INTRODUCTION Water, one of the basic needs of human, is getting depleted in quality and quantity. Water is vital for the existence of every living thing in this world. Water is harnessed for various purposes for the benefits of mankind like drinking, irrigation, municipal and industrial uses, hydropower generation, flood management, fish farming, navigation, ecological needs, recreation etc. Quantity depletion is mainly due to over-extraction of ground water due to increased population and reduced recharge of ground water. Quality depletion is due to industrial effluent discharged in river. The variability in quality of irrigation water is directly based on both types and amount of dissolved salts in that water. The domestic and industrial discharge is main sources for this salt and they follow the flow path of the water when it’s introduced in that water. Here attempt has been made to assess the irrigation water quality of Lower Bhavani Project distributaries. Location: The Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) is in Tamil Nadu. Bhavani River is the water source for LBP, it rises in the upper region of Nilgris in the . It is joined by twelve rivulets, which drain the southern Nilgiri slopes. The largest tributaries of the Bhavani River are West and East Varagar, which come from the Nilgiris. It is the major tributary of the Cauvery River and the second largest river in Tamil Nadu. The river is 217 kilometers long and flows through the states of and Tamil Nadu. The drainage basin of this perennial river is spread over an area of 6,200 square kilometers, out of which, 87% is in Tamil Nadu, 9% in Kerala and 4% in . The river mainly flows through and districts of Tamil Nadu. The major towns situated on the banks of the river are Mukkali, Athikadavu, Koodappatti, Mettupalayam, , , Aapakudal, , Aavudaiaaparai, Bhavani. Sample collection: The water samples were collected in two shift. During the first field visit, samples from tail reach are collected while during second time, from head and middle reach. Samples are collected in a criteria as nine samples for each distributor. Totally seven distributories were taken in which two from head reach (Kugalor and Kavindapadi), two from middle reach (Thindal and Poondurai) and three from tail reach (Anjur, Mangalapatti and Chennasamudram). Proper sampling procedure is adopted to collect samples, since these are the representative for the current ground water quality condition prevailing in that area. It is collected using plastic bottle which is rinsed with distilled water. Once the sample is collected the place, location, type and use of the well either open or bore is noted. Most of the samples were collected from bore well.

Figure.1. Location of Bhavani Sub Basin in Cauvery Figure.2. Sampling location in each distributory of River Basin, Tamil Nadu, LBP Analysing water quality: The collected samples will be analyzed for the level of water quality parameters and compared with general guide lines for drinking water by World Health Organisation (WHO). The water quality parameters are

JCHPS Special Issue 6: November 2016 www.jchps.com Page 246 Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical SciencesISSN: 0974-2115 used for analyzing the water quality; pH, Electrical conductivity, Total dissolved solids, Chloride, Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Carbonates, Bicarbonates. The Table.1 shows the measured values of selected water quality parameters as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, bi-carbonate and sulphate in the two different reaches of selected distributaries. Table.1. Sample Analysis Results S No HCO3 Cl SO4 Ca Mg Na K Head Reach 1 1.86 2.4 1.09 11 8.6 2.9 0.8 2 0.95 2.2 2.50 12 6.6 5.0 1.0 3 1.39 3.9 1.27 14 9.0 8.3 1.7 Middle Reach 4 3.68 3.6 4.90 14 4.9 7.2 2.5 5 2.81 4.6 0.98 15 9.4 9.2 1.8 6 3.90 5.2 2.81 14 14.6 6.9 2.6 Tail Reach 7 5.81 6.6 0.98 18 16.39 11.2 1.8 8 5.95 9.2 2.50 20 20.56 15.0 1.0 9 4.39 7.9 4.27 18 18.03 11.3 1.7 *All the values are in meq/l From the table it is clear that, concentration of salinity increases along the reach. But sulphate and potassium concentration is within the permissible limit for mostly all the samples. Apart from above parameters which are tabulated, some parameters like temperature and TDS of the samples are discussed below. The average temperature of irrigation water samples of the study area was 20°C and in the range of 18 to 23°C. In addition to above parameters, it is also important to consider the TDS in water, because many of the toxic solid materials may be imbedded in the water which may cause harm to the plants (Matthess, 1982). As EC and TDS values of groundwater are interrelated, both the values are indicative of saline water in absence of non-ionic dissolved constituents (Michael, 1992). The TDS values range from 420 to 1800 mg/l. It indicates that some values are quite unsuitable but some are suitable under some restrictions as the higher values exceeded 450 mg/l. 2. CONCLUSION According to the analyzed results, water quality of the Bhavani basin is in the range of good to bad. But most of the samples are within the good range other than the tail reach samples due to high pollution. According to the water analysis value the head and middle reach distributary has higher water quality than the tail reach distributary. REFERENCES Anant J Dhembare, Assessment of Water Quality Indices for Irrigation of Dynaneshwar Dam Water, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India, Archives of Applied Science Research, 4 (1), 2012, 348-352. Darshana, Ashish Pandey, Manfred Ostrowski and R. P. Pandey, Simulation and Optimization for irrigation and crop planning, Journal of Irrigation Drain Enggineering, 61, 2012, 178-188. Dennis L. Corwin, James D. Rhoades, Jirka Simunek, Leaching requirement for soil salinity control: Steady-state versus transient models, Agricultural water management, 90, 2007, 165–180. Islam MS, and Shamsad SZKM, Assessment of Irrigation Water Quality of Bogra District In Bangladesh, Bangladesh J. Agril. Res, 34 (4), 2009, 597-608. Javaid Afzal, David H. Noble and Weatherhead EK, Optimization Model for Alternative use of Different Quality Irrigation Waters, Journal of Irrigation Drain Enggineering, 118, 1992, 218-228. Mohammed Muthanna N, Quality assessment of tigris river by using water quality index for irrigation purpose, European Journal of Scientific Research, 57 (1), 2011, 15-28.

JCHPS Special Issue 6: November 2016 www.jchps.com Page 247