Temporal Assessment Using WQI of River Henwal, a Tributary of River Ganga in Himalayan Region

ESSENCE - International Journal for Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation Volume VIII: No. 1 2017 [187 – 204] [ISSN 0975 - 6272] [www.essence-journal.com] Temporal assessment using WQI of River Henwal, a Tributary of River Ganga in Himalayan Region Matta, Gagan1; Kumar, Avinash1; Uniyal, D. P.2; Singh, Prashant3; Kumar, Amit4; Dhingra, Gulshan K.5; Ajendra Kumar6 Naik, Pradeep K.7 and Shrivastva, Naresh Gopal8 Received: January 27, 2017 Accepted: February 9, 2017 Online: June 30, 2017 Abstract Limnological study plays a vital role in used to depict the water quality of Henwal determining the seasonal water quality in terms river. CPI was used by considering eleven of the physico-chemical parameters, heavy physicochemical parameters and eight heavy metals, the density, diversity and occurrence of metals. The range of CPI was found to be 2.07- planktons at four different sites of an aquatic 8.83 (CPI > 2), which is an indication of ecosystem. The present study is conducted to severely polluted water of Henwal river. assess the relationship between Control site was slightly polluted but physicochemical parameters and different moderately in monsoon as CPI 1.61-3.24. Jajal groups of plankton through statistical shows the highest CPI values which indicates approaches to assess the quality of Henwal that it is severely polluted. Nagni had the river. Different kind of indices (CPI, highest diversity index (D = 4.69, H = 1.58) of Simpson’s diversity index (D), Shannon- the four sites in the monsoon season and the Weaver index (H) and Taxon Evenness (E) are Khadi had the lowest diversity index (D = 3.84, H = 1.48) in the winter season. For correspondence: 1 Department of Zoology & Environmental Science, Keywords: River Henwal | River Ganga Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar 2 Tributary | CPI | Simpson’s index (D) | Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology, Dehradun Shannon-Weaver index (H) | Phytoplankton | 3 Department of Chemistry, D.A.V. (P.G.) College, Dehradun Zooplankton | Uttarakhand | Chamba | 4 Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun Freshwater ecosystem 5 Department of Botany, Rishikesh P.G. College, Rishikesh 6 Department of Mathematics, Gurukula Kangri University, Introduction Haridwar 7 Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and In India, 14 major river systems shares about Ganga Rejuvenation, Govt. of India, Central Ground Water 83% of the drainage basin. The Himalayas are Board, Chandigarh 8 National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttrakhand the source of freshwater rivers so they can be Email: [email protected] called “the cradle of major rivers” that supports 187 Matta et al./Vol. VIII [1] 2017/187 – 204 the life of many ecosystems(Matta, Gagan, finally, it is sandy, when it meets the River 2010; Cherian and Matta, 2010; Prachi, et al., Ganga (Bhadauriya, et al., 2011; Matta, Gagan, 2011; Singh, et al., 2011). The Himalayan 2014a; Matta, Gagan, 2014b). Due to the great Rivers receive about 20-30 % of their water variation in the velocity and temperature of the from melted snow during the summer and water, the biodiversity may also vary. monsoon seasons and are also important in a The present study is to assess the influence of geopolitically context which has been realized anthropogenic activities on water quality in and attracted the attention of country’s terms of limnological characters of spring fed planners towards the developmental activities River Henwal, a tributary of River Ganga. of this mountain region (Matta, et al., 2015c; Henwal River is originating from Surkanda Matta, et al., 2015d; Matta, et al., 2016; Matta hills (2900 msl) in the greater Himalayas and and Gjyli, 2016). merges into River Ganga at Shivpuri. The Garhwal region in Uttarakhand state lying present study has been carried out by between the latitude of 29° 26’ - 31° 28’ N and considering the importance of aquatic longitude 77° 99’ - 80° 6’ E with an area of ecosystems of Himalayas with special 30,000 km (approx) has vast source of fresh reference to Garhwal region. water bodies are present in the form of rivers, Materials and Method rivulets, tributaries, and springs, fulfilling the Study Area freshwater requirement of the population The present study has been carried out in (Khanna and Matta, 2009; Singh, et al., 2010; Chamba, Distt. Tehri Garhwal to examine Matta, et al., 2011; Tewari, et al., 2010). Along pollution status of River Henwal, located in with a large number of snow-fed rivers and newly carved state of Uttarakhand. Chamba is streams such as Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, situated at a junction of roads Mandakini Dhauliganga, Pindar and Ganga connecting Mussoorie and Rishikesh with River, there are so many springs fed rivers the Tehri Dam reservoir and New Tehri. Its such as Bhilangna, Nayar, Gular, Song, Suswa, nearby tourist places are Dhanaulti, Surkanda Henwal and hundreds of rivulets (Matta, et al., Devi Temple, Ranichauri, New Tehri, 2014; Matta and Kumar, 2015; Matta, Gagan, and Kanatal, halfway between Chamba and 2015a; Matta, et al., 2015a; Matta, Gagan, Dhanaulti. About 50 km from Mussoorie, the 2015b; Matta, et al., 2015b). small hill town of Chamba, Uttaranchal, is River Henwal is spring fed river. It originates another of those destinations yet unknown to from Kaddukhal (Near Surkanda Devi Temple, most tourists and therefore unspoilt and fresh Chamba, Uttaranchal) and its length is near like a daisy for the lucky few who venture out about 38 kilometers. This river can be divided seeking new places to explore and enjoy. into three different ecological sections, viz., the Chamba is situated at an altitude of 1600m upper, the middle and the lower section. River above sea level with coordinates 30.21°N substratum is stony, rocky and pebbly and 188 Matta et al./Vol. VIII [1] 2017/187 – 204 78.23°E. There are pleasant forests of pine and each parameter was reported. The physical deodar trees, with some good views. parameters like pH, Temperature, DO, Transparency, Velocity, and Free CO2 are recorded on the spot and other chemical parameters are recorded in the Laboratory which were determined using standard methods (Khanna et al., 2011; APHA, 2012). Statistical Analysis All the data obtained subjected to statistical analysis. In statistical analysis, a correlation developed between parameters by using Karl Pearsons’s coefficient of correlation for data analysis of River Henwal water to measure the variations between Site I and Site II parameters. MS Excel, 2007 was used to Fig. 1: Map showing sampling location on River Henwal measure the Mean and Standard deviation (SD) During course study period physico-chemical of the data. For other statistical analysis like parameters of River Henwal were studied. correlation Minitab 16 was used. Water samples were taken from three different Comprehensive pollution index (CPI): This sites of Henwal River i.e. from Nagni, Jajal CPI has been applied to classify the water and Kharee (Fig. 1). This river is the tributary quality status by many of the research findings of Holy River Ganga proving water for (Zhao, Y. et al., 2012). It is evaluated by the irrigation, domestic and for other purposes. following equations as: Due to number of uses, comprehensive river PI = Measured concentration of individual parameter water quality monitoring program is becoming Standard permissible concentration of parameter (1) a necessity in order to safeguard public health 1 n CPI = i=0 PI (2) and to protect the valuable and vulnerable fresh n Where PI is the pollution∑ index of individual water resources (Kannel et al. 2007 and Singh, water quality parameter considered, n is the 2010). number of parameters and CPI is a Samples collection and analysis comprehensive pollution index. The standard Water samples were collected seasonally permissible concentrations of each parameter during 2011 to 2012. Samples were collected considered in the study were obtained from the using a clean plastic bucket, transferred to norms of the Indian government for a general clean plastic bottles and transported to the discharge of environmental pollutant (CPCB; laboratory on ice and stored in a deep freezer (- 2011, EPA; 1986, BIS; 2012, WHO; 2011). o 20 C) till analysis. Samples were collected in CPI ranges from 0 to 2 which classify water triplicate from each site and average value for 189 Matta et al./Vol. VIII [1] 2017/187 – 204 quality as: ≤0.20 is Clean; 0.21–0.40 is Sub- Result and Discussion clean; 0.41–1.00 is slightly polluted; 1.01–2.0 The result from the seasonal variation in is moderately polluted;≥2.01 is severely physicochemical, heavy metal and plankton polluted. analysis of river Henwal indicated the quality Simpson’s diversity index (D): status of water. The values of water may be The Simpson’s diversity index (D) is affected in a variety of ways by pollution. calculated using the following equation: Variations in physicochemical and heavy metal properties of River Henwal in summer, = ( ) winter and monsoon seasons at control site, where p(i) is the fraction�� of the� total sample Nagni, Khadi and Jajal sampling sites are made up by the species, appended in Table 1-4. CPI was used to depict p(i) = n(i)/N the seasonal and site wise water quality in Table 5 and through graphical representation where n(i) is the number of the individuals and in Fig. 3. Plankton composition is represented N is total number of all species in Table 6-9 and different diversity indices Shannon-Weaver index (H): were used for groups of zooplankton. This is widely used method of calculating Velocity has an impact on the DO levels in a biotic diversity in aquatic and terrestrial river stream. Water velocity of river Henwal ecosystems and is expressed as: was within the range of 0.63m/s in summer to = ( ) ( ) 1.11m/s in monsoon at Jajal.

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