Water quality assessment on river Ganga from Haridwar to Garhmukteshwar with a specific focus on point source discharges

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Physical Geography, Geomorphology, Environmental Studies, grade: 8.0, , language: English, abstract: There were many schemes for pollution abatement of River Ganga. Ganga Action Plan and thereafter NRCD and NGBRA were launched by Government of India. But these plans focused only on big cities and did not take into account pollution generated in the entire stretch/catchment. In their efforts small cities, semi urban settlements, Industries and pollution from rural sector were not addressed. As a result program had limited success and the improvement in water quality of River Ganga was limited. This study aims at studying the water quality assessment of point source discharges in river Ganga catchment from Haridwar to Garhmukteshwar (160 km) based on field visits , satellite data supported with details from survey of India topographical sheets, census data, district Industry data, water quality and discharge data. Catchment area of study stretch of river Ganga is about 5690 sq. km Water samples collected from drains and tributaries had been analyzed for pH, BOD COD, DO, TDS, Conductance, Nitrate, Heavy metals, Sulphate, Salinity, Turbidity, Faecal Coliform. These data are obtained by collecting water and wastewater samples during pre- and post-monsoon seasons during post monsoon water quality analysis (NOV 2013) and pre monsoon water quality analysis (Feb/March 2014) and are converted with National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index (NSFWQI) to achieve at a single value defining the water quality at selected locations. The result shows that the water quality of river is not good.