An Appraisal of the Mayurakshi River System Water Quality – the Agrarian Basin
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SSRG International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science ( SSRG – IJAES ) – Volume 4 Issue 4 July to August 2017 An Appraisal of the Mayurakshi River System Water Quality – the Agrarian Basin Suraj Ghosh#1, Shibani Chaudhury#2, Kumar Manoj#3 #1,2Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan-731235, Birbhum, West Bengal, India #3Defence Colony, Amarabati, Durgapur, 713214, West Bengal, India Abstract resource in India. The country‟s population has The Mayurakshi River system is an quadrupled since 1951, but shares the same 4000 important interstate river system in India, and is billion cubic meters (BCM) of precipitation. widely exploited for various purposes. A preliminary Therefore, in the context of a growing economy, assessment of the water quality of the Mayurakshi India needs better management of its freshwater system, at eleven strategically selected locations in resources [5]. Water pollution decreases the the West Bengal (India), was carried out. Most of the availability of water for consumption. The treatment water quality parameters were found to be within the of polluted water for consumption enhances the regulatory limits of the recommended standards and economic burden. The biggest dilemma is that the other indices, including water quality index (WQI). rivers are the sources of water supply, and after use The WQI values varied from 70.45 to 84.09, and they become the sinks for mostly untreated designated the Mayurakshi system ecologically in the wastewaters. This problem is more relevant for the range of good water quality type. Agglomerative developing countries where proper infrastructure for hierarchical cluster analysis (AHCA) grouped the the water management and, prevention and control of sampling sites into three clusters based on river pollution is still inadequate. water utilization criteria: degree of domestic use, agricultural practices, and fisheries. The study Progressive urbanization and industrial showed the utility of AHCA in decreasing the number development have increased the use of rivers as of sampling sites and increasing the efficacy of waste disposal bodies. The pollution arising from continuous monitoring of the Mayurakshi basin. these anthropogenic activities and other sources, such Overall the basin water quality was found as increased application of agricultural chemicals, has ecologically sustainable with limited anthropogenic made rigorous assessment and monitoring of the river impact on the river water environment. water quality indispensable [6]. In recent years, research on river environment has increasingly Keywords — Cluster Analysis; Multivariate gained momentum in India (for details see review Analysis; Water Quality Index; River Water work of Manoj and Padhy [3]). The baseline study of Environment. all possible stretches of rivers in India is necessary to prepare an inventory of the river water environment. I. INTRODUCTION Water quality assessment provides information on Since ancient times, the rivers in India have aquatic ecosystem health; sheds light on water quality played enormous roles in the country‟s economic and trend analysis; identifies the types of water quality cultural development. Even today, the river valleys problems; defines the probable reasons behind account for a very high concentration of the country‟s deterioration of the aquatic health; and provides a population and agricultural activities. However, these collective information source that can essentially be life-giving rivers are increasingly getting polluted, used by the regulatory agencies and resource both from point and non-point sources, threatening managers to make decisions and evaluate other the survival of hydrobiota as well as putting human- alternatives [6]. This is necessary for proper lives at risk [1]. Rivers are called the lifeline of the management of the river basins, and prevention and country as they provide freshwater for all the needs control of river water pollution. Based on some above of the human population. The availability of mentioned points, a baseline assessment of the freshwater depends on two basic components, Mayurakshi River system, in the Indian state of West namely, quantity and quality. Not only the per capita Bengal, was carried out. The Mayurakshi River water water availability is falling year by year, the quality during its course is used for irrigation, drinking, as a of water is also under threat [2], [3], [4]. It should be source for capture fisheries, and various other beyond doubt that water is an increasingly scarce purposes [7]. ISSN: 2394-2568 www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 50 SSRG International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science ( SSRG – IJAES ) – Volume 4 Issue 4 July to August 2017 II. MATERIALS AND METHODS West Bengal. The total irrigation potential created in the state, till 2013-14 AD, through various schemes, A. The Mayurakshi River System including Mayurakshi project, is 16.50 lakh hectares. The Mayurakshi River originates from the Trikut The total catchment area of the Mayurakshi-Babla Mountain in the Jharkhand state, and further basin is 5,958 square kilometers; out of which 2,720 downstream flows through the state of West Bengal. square kilometers is in the West Bengal [9]. The river is a tributary of the Hoogly River. It drains Birbhum and Murshidabad districts of the West B. Study Area, Water Sampling and Analysis Bengal before meeting the Hoogly. The Bakreshwar The present study was carried out on the River is a tributary of the River Mayurakshi. The Mayurakshi River system, spread over Birbhum and Bakreshwar also has its origin in the Jharkhand state. Murshidabad districts, in West Bengal, India (Fig. 1). It passes through the Birbhum district and then meets The river water in the study area is mainly used for the Kopai River. The combined Bakreshwar-Kopai agricultural activities, domestic purposes, and stream drains into the Mayurakshi. The Mayurakshi fisheries. Water samples were collected from 11 River has two dams: Massanjore Dam (also called locations along the Mayurakshi River system. The Canada Dam), located about 65 kilometers upstream collected samples were delivered on the same day to of the Seori (the district headquarter of the Birbhum); the laboratory and kept at 4°C until processing and and the Tilpara Dam, located about 32 kilometers analysis. The samples were analyzed for 15 downstream of the Massanjore Dam [8]. The physicochemical parameters, namely, pH, total Mayurakshi River is a rainfed river. The river in its dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), sodium + + 2+ course is joined by a number of tributaries and (Na ), potassium (K ), calcium (Ca ), magnesium 2+ - 2- (Mg ), bicarbonate (HCO3 ), sulphate (SO4 ), rivulets. During Monsoon the river swells up, and 3- - - during summer gets reduced to a narrow stream. The phosphate (PO4 ), nitrate (NO3 ), chloride (Cl ), bed material of the river is mostly sandy [7]. The dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand Mayurakshi forms one of the three major reservoirs in (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) West Bengal. The Mayurakshi reservoir project is one following standard methods [10]. The pH and DO of the seven major irrigation projects in the state of were determined at the sampling spots. Fig 1: Sampling Sites Along the Mayurakshi River System CiPi i C. Computation of Water Quality Index WQI = k Water quality index (WQI) was computed Pi using the equation and classification described below. i Where, „k‟ is the subjective constant; represents visual impression of the water; and its ISSN: 2394-2568 www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 51 SSRG International Journal of Agriculture & Environmental Science ( SSRG – IJAES ) – Volume 4 Issue 4 July to August 2017 2 magnitude can be: 0.25 (for highly contaminated Where, dij = Squared Euclidean distance for water), 0.5 (for moderately contaminated water), 0.75 two individuals i and j, each measured on q variables, (for lightly contaminated water) and 1.00 (for xil, xjl, l = 1, …., q. apparently good quality water). The WQI of each sampling site was determined from 12 water quality III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION - 2- 3- parameters, namely, pH, TDS, TH, Cl , SO4 , PO4 , - 2+ 2+ NO3 , Ca , Mg , DO, BOD and COD. The equation A. Physicochemical Description employs a normalized (Ci) and a relative weight (Pi) The physicochemical assessment of the water values assigned to each parameter. These values are quality of the Mayurakshi River system showed that available in the published works of authors [11] and the values of pH ranged from 7.12 to 7.95; TDS from [12]. In this method of WQI calculation, a higher Pi is 155.53 to 231.14 mg/l; DO from 4.43 to 7.28 mg/l; allotted to those parameters which are considered BOD from 1.4 to 3.7 mg/l; COD from 15.4 to 30.9 most vital for the hydrobiota (for example, DO = 4). mg/l; TH from 52 to 92 mg/l; Na+ from 26.14 to 26.67 The parameters considered relatively less important mg/l; K+ from 10.67 to 19.24 mg/l; Ca2+ from 17.83 to 2+ - for the hydrobiota are allotted comparatively lower Pi 18.35 mg/l; Mg from 9.27 to 19.88 mg/l; HCO3 2- values (such as, pH = 1). To do away with the from 80 to 150 mg/l; SO4 from 15.4 to 15.94 mg/l; - 3- subjective evaluation of the Mayurakshi water quality, NO3 from 32.83 to 36.60 mg/l; PO4 from 0.32 to constant k was not considered in the present study. 1.32 mg/l and Cl- from 10.23 to 45.6 mg/l (Table 1). A The size of WQI ranges from 0-100, and is separated comparative account of the obtained results with that into five classes, namely, 0-25 (represents very bad of the Bureau of Indian Standards, BIS [21] and water quality), 26-50 (represents bad water quality), Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB [22] water 51-70 (represents medium water quality), 71-90 quality guidelines is discussed below in the text.