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, Sindh Pakistan Muhammad Afzal Farooq, Arif Zubair, S. Shahid Shaukat, Muhammad Usama Zafar and Waqar Ahmad Department of Environmental Science, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi, 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 Thatta 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) 298 World Appl. Sci. J., 27 (3): 297-301, 2013 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.