World Applied Sciences Journal 27 (3): 297-301, 2013 ISSN 1818-4952 © IDOSI Publications, 2013 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wasj.2013.27.03.81130

Water Quality Characteristics of Keenjhar Lake,

Muhammad Afzal Farooq, Arif Zubair, S. Shahid Shaukat, Muhammad Usama Zafar and Waqar Ahmad

Department of Environmental Science, Federal University of Arts, Science and Technology Gulshan-e-Iqbal , Pakistan

Abstract: A study was conducted to assess the water quality of KeenjharLake and its canal leading to Dhabeji treatment and pumping plant. Fourteen samples were collected deterministically from various areas of the lake. Twenty-two water quality parameters were measured in all collected samples, including Turbidity, DO, TDS, chloride, alkalinity, hardness, nitrate, sulphate, six heavy metals and coliform bacteria. Most of the physicochemical parameters were within the WHO permissible limits. The water samples from Kotri and Dhabeji (before pumping station) were of poor quality characterized by the levels of Pb, Cd, Cu and nitrate that exceeded the WHO permissible limits.

Key words: Water Quality Keejhar Lake Physicochemical Properties Kotriand Dhabeji

INTRODUCTION Table 1: Fourteen samples with its area and site location S. No. Area Locations KeenjharLake is one of the biggest man-made 1 Dhabeji Pumping Station lakesthroughout Asia and is an important freshwater 2 Dhabeji After pumping reservoir,not only to the inhabitants of Karachi [1] but 3 Keenjhar Lake Inlet 4 Keenjhar Lake Outlet also forsome parts of district [2]. It is situated 113 5 Keenjher Lake Middle km away from Karachi city at Latitude 24-25° N and 6 Gharo City Longitude 68-69° NE. The freshwater of lake spans an area 7 Gharo Outlet 2 of 145 km with the maximum depth of 18 m initially but 8 Kotri City reduced to a depth of only 5-6.5 meters due to continuous 9 Haleji Inlet siltation of the River Indus [3]. Geologically the lake 10 Haleji outlet comprises of limestone and sandstone bedrock. Thelake 11 Keenjher Lake Inlet is immensely important, as it is the major source of water 12 Keenjher Lake Outlet supply to the metropolitan city of Karachi [2], therefore 13 Sajawal Outlet drinking water produced from the lake, poses a great 14 Sajawal Inlet concern to the potential public health risk [4]. Some early studies showthat thephysicochemical characteristics of information related to physical, chemical characteristics, KeenjharLakewater for the suitability of the survival and trace metals and microbial water quality parameters of the growth of aquatic life [5,6]. Moreover recent studylike Lake and its vicinity by using multivariate approaches. Shafiq et al. [4] whoexpress that some of the heavy metal concentrations and the level of bacterial contamination of MATERIALS AND METHODS the lake water exceed the permissible limits set by WHO [7]. The principal aims of this study were to examine the Fourteen samples of water were collected from quality of KeenjharLake waterand its vicinity as described Keenjhar Lake and adjacent of district Thatta in December in Table 1. Specifically, we focus on the fundamental 2012. One litre clean plastic bottles were used for

Corresponding Author: Muhammad Usama Zafar, Department of Environmental Science, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi, Pakistan.

297 World Appl. Sci. J., 27 (3): 297-301, 2013 collection of surface water. Physical parameters including The mean value of cadmium was observed above the Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Total allowable limits of WHO. Mean value of lead seemed to be Dissolved Solids (TDS), salinity, Electrical Conductivity within acceptable limits of WHO with the exception of (EC) were ascertained at site by using multi-parameter samples collected from Kotri and Dhabeji. All other heavy Sension HACH 156 meter. Chemical parameters (chloride, metals were experienced within allowable limits set by total alkalinity and total hardness) were examined in the WHO. laboratory using standard procedures of titration, developed by American Public Health Association [8].The Correlation Matrix: The Pearson correlation matrix of all concentrations of trace metals including iron, zinc, copper, parameters from 14 sites is shown in the Table 3. lead, mercury and cadmium weredetermined using Atomic Temperature was significantly correlated with COD Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS-PG990).To analyze (P<0.01) and negatively correlated with turbidity (P<0.05). the water samples for colifom bacteria, 10-fold serial pH was positively correlated with iron (P<0.05). Dissolved dilutions of water were prepared to inoculate lactose Oxygen was found negatively correlated with total broth. The Durham tubeswere incubated at 37°C for 24h. hardness (P<0.01). Conductivity was positively correlated Subsequently,coliform bacterial concentration was with iron concentration (P<0.01). Salinity was negatively determined by MPN technique [9]. For statistical analysis, correlated with copper (P<0.01). Chloride was negatively we used Minitab ver. 11.11 software. correlated with total alkalinity and positively correlated with sulphate (P<0.01). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Total alkalinity was positively correlated with coliform bacteria (P<0.05) and negatively correlated Descriptive statistics of all 22 parameters of 14 water with sulphate (P<0.05). Metals in general showed high samples collected from district Thatta are shown in the degree of correlation among them. For example, cadmium Table 2. There are no stringent criteria of physicochemical was highly correlated with lead and copper (P<0.001) and parameters like (Temperature, Turbidity, D.O, conductivity to a lesser extent with mercury (P<0.05). Lead was and salinity) defined by WHO [7]. In case of pH, only one strongly correlated with copper (P<0.001) and mercury sample exceeded the WHO permissible limit while TDS of (P<0.01).All other inter-variable correlations were non- all samples was found within the permissible limit [7]. significant.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics of 22 parameters of 14 sites Variable Mean Median St. Dev. SE Mean Min Max WHO Limits Temperature 23.7 24.7 2.08 0.556 18.4 25.4 No guideline pH 7.2 6.9 0.694 0.185 6.5 8.7 6.5-8.5 Turbidity 2.317 1.455 2.21 0.591 0.31 8 No guideline DO 6.235 6.13 0.486 0.13 5.3 6.9 No guideline TDS 273.1 268.2 43.5 11.6 212.8 374.4 500 mg/L Conductivity 637.2 682.5 165.8 44.3 231 763 No guideline Salinity 0.2214 0.2 0.0579 0.0155 0.1 0.3 No guideline Chloride 84.8 76 66.6 17.8 22 219.9 250 mg/L Total Al 90.43 92 12.94 3.46 66 112 250 mg/L Total Ha 173.1 156 64.4 17.2 116 364 150 mg/L Sulphate 94.93 92.5 19.4 5.18 67 147 500 mg/L Potassium 18.64 19.51 8.84 2.36 4.22 35.23 12 mg/L Sodium 66.46 77.97 28.38 7.58 24.05 104.3 200 mg/L Cadmium 0.01003 0.00395 0.01391 0.00372 0 0.0413 0.003 mg/L Iron 0.2807 0.36 0.1647 0.044 0.03 0.48 50 mg/L Zinc 0.2429 0.185 0.1871 0.05 0.11 0.86 3 mg/L Lead 0.00264 0.00095 0.0041 0.00109 0 0.015 0.01 mg/L Mercury 0.00004 0 0.0001 0.00003 0 0.00031 0.001 mg/L Copper 0.05999 0.0565 0.01994 0.00533 0.033 0.0976 2 mg/L Nitrate 17.579 17.35 2.326 0.622 14.1 23.6 50 mg/L COD 112.9 139 63.6 17 19 201 Coliform 3.571 2 3.589 0.959 1 13 -The column on the extreme right shows WHO standard limits of drinking water (1993)

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Table 3: The Pearson Correlation matrix of all parameters Temp. pH Turb. D.O T.D.S Cond. Salinity Chloride Total Al Total Ha Sulphate Potass. Sodium Cadmium Iron Zinc Lead Mercury Copper Nitrate COD pH -0.037 Turb. -0.654 0.447 D.O 0.221 -0.341 -0.359 T.D.S -0.313 0.161 0.233 -0.42 Cond. 0.346 0.329 0.03 0.178 -0.469 Salinity 0.441 0.077 -0.117 -0.23 0.206 -0.13 Chloride -0.046 0.05 -0.031 -0.1 0.022 0.415 0.031 Total Al 0.402 -0.17 -0.281 0.373 -0.308 -0.2 -0.075 -0.673 Total Ha 0.013 0.338 0.397 -0.68 0.112 0.108 0.141 0.048 -0.157 Sulphate 0.069 -0.002 -0.083 0.042 0.424 0.193 0.31 0.723 -0.513 -0.04 Potass. -0.344 -0.487 -0.009 0.409 -0.387 -0.2 -0.493 -0.048 0.304 -0.18 -0.303 Sodium -0.095 0.039 -0.066 0.15 -0.359 0.462 -0.506 0.519 -0.071 0.007 0.184 0.301 Cadmium -0.094 0.374 -0.061 0.191 -0.083 0.148 -0.5 -0.183 -0.049 -0.26 -0.335 -0.029 0.146 Iron 0.495 0.559 0.128 -0 -0.369 0.679 -0.018 -0.194 0.371 0.341 -0.244 -0.261 0.156 0.185 Zinc -0.309 -0.345 -0.016 -0.28 -0.191 -0.1 -0.233 0.444 -0.385 0.044 -0.078 0.265 0.183 -0.249 -0.484 Lead -0.028 0.005 -0.061 0.281 -0.208 0.049 -0.442 -0.33 0.052 -0.25 -0.426 0.056 0.051 0.841 0.092 -0.216 Mercury 0.299 -0.251 -0.288 0.224 -0.331 0.16 -0.154 -0.235 0.154 -0.28 -0.244 -0.168 0.135 0.428 0.15 -0.175 0.756 Copper -0.373 0.064 0.131 0.137 0.042 0.012 -0.715 -0.17 -0.082 -0.2 -0.272 0.18 0.254 0.831 -0.009 -0.145 0.858 0.521 Nitrate -0.312 0.252 -0.161 0.22 -0.1 0.085 -0.459 0.172 -0.264 -0.36 -0.082 0.221 0.207 0.609 -0.175 0.178 0.216 -0.237 0.354 COD 0.685 -0.409 -0.513 0.419 -0.269 0.215 0.122 -0.086 0.475 0.096 0.142 0.192 0.107 -0.194 0.31 -0.397 0.025 0.255 -0.13 -0.409 Coliform 0.251 -0.21 -0.263 0.468 -0.278 -0.23 -0.063 -0.034 0.604 -0.1 -0.003 0.462 0.211 -0.25 -0.025 -0.001 -0.203 -0.182 -0.273 -0.102 0.397 Temp= Temperature, Turb= Turbidity, Cond= Conductivity, Potass= Potassium

Fig. 1: Dendrogram representing Ward’s cluster analysis of 14 samples from

The dendrogram derived from Ward’s Pb> Cd > Cu > Hg agglomerative clustering (Fig. 1) shows basically two groups, the first large group to the left comprises of 12 The second factor is primarily a function of samples while the group to the right contains two physicochemical factors as indicated by high loadings as samples. Group 1 contains two sub-groups 1a that follows comprises of 6 samples while the other sub-group 1b also contains 6 samples.Group 1a has high pH, conductivity, COD > Temperature > Total Alkalinity > Cu chloride sulphate and iron wheras the levels of turbidity, potassium, zinc and coloform bacteria are low. On the Communalities obtained from principal component other hand, group 1b exhibits high values of turbidity, analysis assess how well the model performed (Table 2). alkalinity, potassium and coliforms while low levels of pH, The variables with the values close to one indicate most chloride, total hardness and iron. Group 2 is characterized of the variations e.g. Cu, Cd, COD, Pb, Temperature, total by high TDS and coliforms while chloride and iron show alkalinity, salinity and DO associated with higher values low values. of communalities among all variables (Table 1). The model Factor loadings with communalities of all parameters explains Cu as followed by cd,pb,COD and Temp. On the obtained from PCA are shown in Table 4. Factor 1 is other hand, some of other variables like pH, conductivity, heavily loaded on the metals. The first four highest potassium, ironand zinchad low contributions to loadings are communalities.

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Table 4: Factor loadings obtained from principal component analysis from 22 parameter from 14 samples Factor 1 Factor 2 Communality Temperature 0.003481 0.152881 0.156362 pH 0.005041 0.031329 0.03637 Turbidity 0.0196 0.065536 0.085136 DO 0.081796 0.030276 0.112072 TDS 0.059049 0.023409 0.082458 Conductivity 0.005184 0.000625 0.005809 Salinity 0.080089 0.054289 0.134378 Chloride 0.034225 0.008836 0.043061 T. Alkalinity 0.045796 0.101761 0.147557 T. Hardness 0.043264 0.000009 0.043273 Sulphate 0.058564 0.001089 0.059653 Potassium 0.030625 0.000225 0.03085 Sodium 0.015876 0.003844 0.01972 Cadmium 0.110889 0.066049 0.176938 Iron 0.012321 0.019321 0.031642 Zinc 0.0121 0.021316 0.033416 Lead 0.143641 0.025281 0.168922 Mercury 0.091204 0.0016 0.092804 Copper 0.106276 0.087616 0.193892 Nitrate 0.020449 0.073984 0.094433 COD 0.015625 0.153664 0.169289 Coliform 0.005476 0.076729 0.082205

results of the present study also accord with the findings of Lashari et al. [6] in terms of physicochemical characteristics of water. The highest pH was observed from Dhabeji sample, which also expressed highest levels of Cd, Pb, Cu and Nitrate. It implies that the water from Dhabeji (prior topumping) is unsafe for human consumption. The next lower quality was that of Kotri, having higher levels of Cd, Pb, Cu and Nitrate. The above discussion indicates that Kotri is the major source of contamination of Keenjhar Lake. The pollutants probably originate from Kotri industrial area Fig. 2: PCA ordination using varimax rotation of 14 and WAPDA industrial area that release their effluents samples from ThattaDistrict into the canal water supplying the Dhabeji treatment plant. The sample collected from Dhabeji (before

EV12 % = 20.7 and EV % = 18.4 pumping) represented highest contamination in terms of trace metals but the water quality seems to improve and Cumulatively the two components contributed approaches to safe limits after the water is pumped owing around 30% of the total experienced variance. to treatment. The two-dimensional PCA ordination with varimax rotation (Fig. 2) basically shows a continuous pattern of REFERENCES samples and differs with the dendrogram resulting from cluster analysis in that the groups cannot be readily seen 1. Nasir, A., A. Ali and N. Jamat, 2002. Management of in the ordination space. wetlands in Pakistan using remote sensing GIS Detailed study of District Thatta including Keenjhar techniques: a case study of Kalri and Lake disclosedthat water samples from these areas were (Presented at International Seminar on Natural within the permissible limits set up byWHO [7]. The Hazards Monitoring Karachi, Pakistan).

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2. Anonymous, 2006. EPA (US Environmental 6. Lashari, K.H., A.L. Korai, G.A. Sahoto and T.G. Kazi, Protection Agency). Morbidity and Mortality: 2009. Limnological studies of Keenjhar Lake, Distt. How Do We Value the Risk of Death and Illness? Thatta Sind Pakistan. Pak. J. Anal. Env. Chem., National Centre for Environmental Economics, 10(1 and 2): 39-47. US Environmental Protection Agency [online], 7. WHO (World Health organization), 1993. Available: http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa//eerm. Guidelines for drinking water quality. World Health nsf/vwRepNumLookup/EE-0497? Open document. Organization, Geneva, 1: 1-29. 3. Mehta, S.J., 1988. The Indus water treaty: 8. American Public Health Association (APHA), a case study in the resolution of an international river American Water Works Association (AWWA) and basin conflict: opinion/Jagat S. Mehta. Druk van: the Water Environmental Federation (WEF), 2005. Natural Resource Forum, 12(1): 69-77. Standard Methods for Examinations of Water and 4. Shafiq, H.B., M. Ajaz and S.A. Rasool, 2011. Wastewater, 20th ed. United Book Press, Inc. Bacterial and toxic pollutants of lakes in . Baltimore, Maryland. Pak. J. Bot., 43(3): 1765-1772. 9. Benson, H.J., 1998. Microbiological applications: 5. Korai, A.L., G.A. Sahoto, K.H. Lashari and Laboratory manual in general Microbiology, S.N. Arbani, 2008. Biodiversity in relation to seventh edition, pp: 208-211. physicochemical properties of Keenjhar Lake, Thatta District, Sindh, Pakistan.Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 8: 259-268.

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