Chapter-1

Introduction

Jayakwadi project constructed on at is about 50 km from . The water body called as “Nathsagar”. It has good number of algae higher plants, fishes and other aquatic animals. Millions of birds visit this water body every year and therefore the Govt. of declared it as “Jayakwadi Bird Sanctuary.” in 1986.

Godavari is one of the prominent river in Maharashtra. In Maratwada region of Maharashtra state, about 50 km away from Aurangabad, a is constructed on the river at Pathin, which is known as Jayakwadi project. The water body known as „Nathsagar.‟ is geographically located between 7500‟00” E longitudes and 19018‟33” and 19033‟16‟ N, latitudes. The water body is about 55 KM in length and 27 KM in width. Of this area, about 25-28% area is shallow, where the water body is biologically active, having large number of flora and fauna. Several Angiospermic plants and large number of algae are observed in this area.

Godavari is considered the “ of Deccan” with fertile lands on it banks. It serves as source of water and plays an important role in improving Scio-economic life of the population residing on its banks. The river Godavari has a special place in mind of people, due to mythological and historical importance.

With the growing need of additional food production, irrigation project play a key role in the march towards prosperity. is one of such bold schemes conceived for irrigating about 2, 78,000 hectares of land. A dam near holy town Paithan is constructed on Godavari River to impound 2909 m. cum of water. Two canals emerging from either bank cater water for irrigation to the command area from Aurangabad, Jalana, Parbhani, Ahmednagar and Beed Districts.

Late Prime-minister Lalabhadur Shasrti laid down the foundation stone of Jayakwadi dam on 18th October 1965. The late Prime-minister inaugurated the project on 24th February 1976.The catchments area of Paithan dam is 21,750 sq. Km.The gross storage capacity is 2909 m. cum. (Million cubic meters). The maximum height of dam above the riverbed is 37 m. The length of dam is 10.20 KM. the length of over flow section is 417 m. The type of dam is Earthen. The

~ 1 ~ submergence area is 35,000 hectares. The earthwork is 12.85 m. cum. The masonry work is 0.33 m. cum. The dam has 27 spillway gates.

The district wise distribution of irrigable command area of the canal is Aurangabad 9,052 hectares, Jalna 36,580 hectares, Parbhani 97,440 hectares, Ahmednagar 2,290 hectares and Beed 37,960 hectares.

Paithan town is looked upon with reverence, due to its link with “Sant Eknath”. Pathin has been in prominence in various fields, over last two thousand years. Paithan was commercially connected with Greece and Rome in period 200 B. C. The great king “SHALIWAHAN” hails from this place. Even in recent history, numbers of important personalities are linked with this city. Saints like Eknath, Krishna Dayarnava, Shivadin Kesari, Schlolars like Remeshvara Bhatta, “Gangabhatt” also hail from this place. It is only in the fitness of things that a “ new place of pilgrimage”, to put it in words of our beloved leader, Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, has sprung up just near this holy place being visited by pilgrims, over last several centuries.

PAITHAN HYDEL SCHEME:-

The Paithan Hydel Schemes consist of installation of a 12 MW reversible pump turbine unit, at the foot of the Paithan Dam. The power station would utilize the average head of about 27 m. created by the Dam. Since the utilization of water from the Dam, is primarily for irrigation, a reversible pump turbine unit has been installed so that, it would continue to generate power even after full irrigation is developed, and no water is allowed to be washed into operate as pumped storage scheme, a tall pool weir downstream to Paithan Dam is constructed. The power station is interconnected with khapharkheda-Paras-Bhusaval grid which is purely thermal system. Paithan hydel scheme will supplement the power created during peak hour demand i.e. during 8.00 AM to 11.00 AM and 5.00 PM to 8.00 PM during each day.

SANT DNYANESHWAR UDYAN:-

A garden (Udyan) named after the Sant Dnyaneshwar whose birth place is Apegaon near Paithan town, is constructed as a part of Jayakwadi project. The garden is expanded over 124 hectares of land on Left Bank, with developments on the lines of famous garden at “VRINDAVAN” in Karnatak state and “PINJORE” in Haryana state.

~ 2 ~ The main feature of this Udyan, are memorial temple of “Sant shri Dnyaneshwar”. Additional building such as administrative building, a research institute for the research of Indian philosophy is proposed in the premises of the temple.

Informal Garden part is constructed to bring the tourists to Udyan, like a hill station. The formal garden with water springs inside, and proper lighting sounding aspect, is also a monumental feature of the Udyan. In order to meet a substantial part of expenditure on maintenance of the Udyan, an orchard garden is also developed as a part of the Udyan. The Udyan project would be an additional attraction to not only Indian tourists, but tourists from abroad also.

FISH SEED FARM:-

There is a large fish seed farm located on right bank on down-stream of Paithan Dam. After completion of this project the fish farm is proposed to yield each year over 400 M. Tonnes of fish from Nathsagar formed due to Paithan dam, apart from supplying about (1.5 crores) fish seed to different storages. About 40 lakhs of finger lings of cultivable varieties of fish seeds viz. Cutla, Roha, Mrigal and Cyprinus are proposed to be produced annually. An area of about 32 hectares (80 acres) is used to cover the fish farm.

COMMAND AREA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY:-

Command Area Development Authority for Jayakwadi project was created in 1974 with an aim to bridge the gap between irrigation potential and utilization and to optimize the agricultural production. Presently one chief Engineer and Administrators are looking after the command Area Development works of Jayakwadi project. The organization is headed by the secretary and Commissioner CAD and Executive Director at state GMIDC level respectively

The work of constructing field channels, development, implementation of suitable cropping pattern, supply of all inputs viz. seeds , fertilizers etc. and services including credits, strengthening of extension services, efficient operation of the complete irrigation system, are entrusted to this authority. The infrastructure works i. e. link roads, market yards, and also drainage works in command area are executed by this authority.

~ 3 ~ Some pilot schemes were taken up and executed, under Jayakwadi command through CADA, for increasing the irrigation utilization by optimizing use of water, With other inputs and benefits of extension services, it is possible to achieve optimum yield of crops, and create confidence in the mind of concerned farmers about the benefits of irrigated agriculture, and to provide guide lines to other farmers.

Economically, culturally and biologicaly water is the most useful natural resource on the earth. From time immemorial, water remains to be the most important raw material for civilization.It is one of the vital resources for all kinds of life on the earth. It acts as a universal solvent in which mineral nutrients are dissolved are absorbed by terrestrial plants. Phytoplankton can not absorb their minerals requirements unless the minerals are dissolved in the water. Food must be dissolved before it enters the blood streams of animal. Most of the waste products of metabolism are carried away after dissolving in water.

It is said that, “Everything originated in the water, and everything is sustained by water.” Water is needed to fulfill diverse requirements in so many diverse ways. It is vital to life for all physiological activities of plants and animals. Water serves as a very convenient means of navigation at many places. Besides, it adds the aesthetic value to landscape and provides the opportunities for recreation. It can therefore, be said that, water is essential for life, it is significantly linked with social, economical, cultural, political and ecological working. Thus, water is the nature‟s gift to living worlds including human race. We use water for drinking, bathing, cooking, cooling, irrigation, energy power, transportation and recreation. Though water seems to be abundant on the earth, the uneven distribution of usable water creates a serious conservation problem at many nukes and corners of the world where it is needed vitally. In such areas the purity of the water becomes critical.

Our biosphere consists of 71% of water coverage.Out of available water source on the earth 97. 4% is salty water in the form of oceans and seas, while fresh water environments occupied only 2.6% of which 1. 98% is found in frozen from in ice caps and glaciers. It means only 0.62% water from Lakes, Streams, River and other resources are available for living organisms and to the being of society (Gholap, 2000).

~ 4 ~ Man not only always suffers by scarcity of water during drought but also faces with the equally serious problem due to excess of water during floods. Violent floods may prove highly devastating to human settlements, agricultural fields, forests, wild life, washing away fertile top soil and creating problems like water logging. Due to uncontrolled anthropogenic activities, these limited sources of fresh water are also getting polluted day by day causing acute scarcity of potable water. Fresh water environment is very important since it is the only source of water for drinking, domestic, agricultural and industrial purpose. In , majority of cities and villages depend on river, well and impoundments for drinking water purpose from very ancient civilization on the globe, sriver is understood to have maintained a healthy as well as prosperous nation.

River water is primarily used for daily needs of the living world. These different water resources are used for production of hydro -electric power, drinking, domestic use, and industrial needs and most important of all for agricultural needs. In all over the world of available fresh water, 70% water is used for agriculture purpose, 23% is used for industrial use including hydroelectric power and only 7% water is used for domestic use.

In India, most of villages, towns, cities, and industries are situated at the bank of rivers and lakes. Therefore, these locations may carry an intolerable burden of chemical and human waste products to the point that aquatic life in its natural habitat is wiped out and human health is threatened. Now a day, due to uncontrolled population expansion, huge quantity of untreated sewage is added every day in rivers and lakes. In addition to the industrial waste, excess quantity of unutilized fertilizers , residues of insecticides, pesticides from agricultural fields and forests is added every day in not only fresh water bodies like rivers , streams and lakes but also in oceans. Thus, due to human activities, these fresh and marine water resources are getting degraded day by day, create a potential health hazards and renders them unsuitable for various human benefits.

River water maintains its purity to some extent when either less amount of waste added in it by its natural aquatic ecosystem or high speed of water flow. But this situation occurs only in monsoon period when rivers are flooded and thus its purification is limited. In fact, flow of river is not always the same but varies from season to season due to complex meteorological factors and varying characteristics of

~ 5 ~ ground receiving rainfall. The magnitude of floods depends upon a number of factors like intensity, duration of rainfall, ground conditions and drainage characteristics.

Modern civilization is dependent on water for irrigation, industrialization, and domestic needs, shipping as well as of all increasing importance in sanitation and waste disposal. Maintenance of a healthy aquatic ecosystem is dependent mainly on biotic factors of water and biological diversity of the ecosystem. Most of the causative areas of the world require intensive studies on the development of water supplies and careful attention to protect water quantity and quality on worldwide scale.

During recent years, there has been an increasing awareness about water pollution all over the world. There are also new approaches to achieve sustainable exploitation of water resources, which have been internationally developed. In many developing countries, prime importance is given to control the water pollution. But in India still there is ignorance about quality and control of water pollution among people.

It is said that the day is not far off when a drop of water will be much costly than a drop of oil.The Problem is worsening with advancement of technology pertaining to more agricultural and industrial production for satisfying the increasing demand of swelling human population.

Hence other precaution must be taken to reduce the ratio of waste on this space. Effect of sewage, industrial waste and agricultural drainage on plants and animals life in closed bodies of water is sometimes catastrophic.But due excessive plant nutrients in these water reservoirs causes eutrophication.Organic matter from decomposing plants animal remains is constantly enriching lakes and other closed bodies, which provides nutrients for algae and larger aquatic plants. Eutrophication is one of major causes of pollution. Process of the eutrophication is very slow and takes a long period but due to uncontrolled human activities such as discharge of municipal sewage, industrial wastes and agricultural run-off, causes the rapid eutrophication. It imparts bad taste and odour to water, fish mortality, reduces recreational values of water, and also causes multiplication of pathogenic population.

India has 18 major river basins and most widely spreads among these are Ganga and Brahmaputra. Godavari is the second largest basin of the country covering an area of Deccan peninsula equivalent to 10% of the country as a whole.

~ 6 ~ Maharashtra is most advanced state in industrial and agricultural development having several major sources of fresh water in addition to very long seacoast.The Maharashtra plateau includes many small plateaus and river valleys.These are mainly rivers like Godavari, Krishna, Tapi and their tributaries on the plateaus. Some important river basins on the Maharashtra plateaus are as below:

1) Godavari basin:-

Godavari is most important river basin in the Maharashtra state. It is the largest river in the state and considered as lifeline of Maharashtra because major like Gangapur at Nasik, Jayakwadi project at Paithan in Aurangabad district are built across the river forms the main source of water for potable and industrial purpose to Nasik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts. Godavari river originates at Trimbakeshwar, one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of god Shiva, near Nasik city in Sahyadris ranges of . The Valley of Godavari river lies between Satmala- Ajanta ranges and Balaghat mountain range and passing through Nasik, Kopargaon and Punatamba in Maharashtra and enters in . It is joined by the Pravara at Toka and by Wardha and near where it enters in Andhra Pradesh (Kunte, 1975).

From very ancient period of time, it is regarded as sacred river and people of India worship it with supreme reverence. is situated on the bank of Godavari river which is one the four holy places in India where Sinhasta- Kumba Mela is being held after every 12 years time interval. During this period, millions of people take shahi-snan (Holy bath) in Godavari river at Nashik.

Main tributaries of Godavari river are Darna, Banganga, Kadwa, Pravara, Manyad, Purna and Manjara.

2) Krishna basin:- Krishn river originates at Maharashtra in Sahyadri ranges.It flows through Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur districts. The important tributaries of river are Koyana, Varna, Venna, and Vela.

3) Bhima basin:-

Bhima has its origin at Bhimashankar, which is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of god Shiva in the Sahyadris. It flows through Pune,Ahmednagar,Solapur and part of

~ 7 ~ Satara districts andhaving tributaries such as Kookdi, Meena, Ghod, Vel, Bhama, Pavna, Mula, Muyha, Karna, Neera.

4) Tapi-purna basin:-

Tapi originates in Satpuda ranges in . Its flows through Khandesh area and parts of Nashik districts and having tributaries such as Girna, Bori, Pansa,and Purna.

Besides these rivers, there are many impoundments and reservoirs located in the Maharashtra. The major impoundments are Bhatghar, Khadakwasala, Panset, , Darna, Maswal, Nizamsagar, Jaykwadi, Kookdi, Ujani, Gandhisagar, Mulsi, Julsi, Vaitarna, Venna, Pashan, Koyana, Tansa Shivsagar, Pavana, Dhom, Gangapur, Girna, Nandur-Madhyahmeshwar dam, Manyad, etc. In addition to these, there are several small permanent and temporary man made water are bodies with varying capacities, these water resources in Maharashtra have been used for different purposes like drinking, bathing. irrigation hydro –electrical projects, recreation, fishing, thermal power and industrial purposes. But due to urbanization, industrialization, agricultural run –off, discharge of sewage, industrial wastes and eutrophication, these water bodies are getting contaminated. All water bodies support the growth of huge flora and fauna. It is fact that the growth and population of flora and fauna is controlled by physical and chemical properties of water.

Any fluctuations in aquatic environment affect the biotic composition. Among these, algae are the most important components as they are natural purifiers, oxygen donors and primary producers in aquatic food chain.

Fresh water bodies from india have been carried out by Chacko and Ganapati (1949) on the river Adyar, Mitra (1982) on river Godavari Krishna and Tungbhadra, Tiwari and Mishra (1986) on river Ganga at Varanasi, Tiwari et al. (1986) on river Jhelum at Kashmir and Venketeswarlu (1983) on river Moosi at Hydrabad etc.

Many workers have been studied fresh water algal flora from Maharashtra. Kamat (1963 a, b, 1965 a, b) studied algae on Maharashtra and also published ecological notes on the algae of Kolhapur. Krishnamurthy and Visweswara (1965) gave hydrobiologocal account of Gandhisagar in . Deore (1978) studies algae and their environment from eutrophical pond near kirkee, Poona. Barhate and Tarar

~ 8 ~ (1983) algal flora of Maharashtra, Zaware and Pingle (2003) from Pashan lake, Pingle and Deshmukh (2005) from Wilson dam and Gore and Pingle (2008) from Ujani dam.

Nandan and Aher (2005 a, b) used algal community for assessment of water quality of Harabaree dam and Mosam river in Maharashtra. Bodas (1991) published a paper on hydrobiologocal and taxonomical studies of some lotic and lentic water bodies in and around Nashik. Sagar (1987) assessed water quality of Godawari river at Kopargaon in .

Thus much work has been done by many workers on algal diversity studies on different river in India as well as in Maharashtra. But so for no one had paid attention to study freshwater algae of Jayakwadi dam, located on the boundary of Aurangabad and Ahmednagar districts. Therefore it is aimed to explore the dam for studies of algal diversity.

Aims and objectives:-

1. To collect benthic and epiphytic algal sample from study area.

2. To identify plantonic, benthic and epiphytic algae collected from study area.

3. To enumerate the taxonomical account of phytoplankton encountered during investigation period.

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