PHYSICO-CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS INVESTIGATION OF MULA-MUTHA RIVER IN INDIA: FROM SOURCE TO SINKASHWINI R. RANE, ASHWINI H. SUPEKAR, NITIN R. KARMALKAR AND SUJATHA RAMANAbstract The Mula-Mutha, a river in India is a typical example of a river that got polluted due to urban proximity namely, Pune. Mula-Mutha river is used as a source of drinking water and for other domestic purposes. Indiscriminate sewage disposal, industrial wastes and various human activities which directly affect their physico-chemical and microbiological quality. Being a monsoon driven river, the quality of water changes significantly with season. Hence, the present study was designed to investigate physico-chemical and biological parameters at selected point locations from source (Mulshi dam) to sink (Ujjani dam) in both pre and post monsoon seasons. Our study demonstrated that due to the dilution of water during postmonsoon, the over all ionic strength was lower than the premonsoon water samples. But, the bacterial load is undesirably high in post monsoon, deteriorated the quality of water. It was observed that from Mulshi to Lavale, all tested parameters are within the desirable limit of water quality. Quality of water degraded progressively upon the urban entry due to illegal, untreated, uncontrolled dumping of industrial and domestic wastes. Among the selected locations, Daund is the location where untreated and uncontrolled dumping of wastes is significantly degrading the water quality. The high bacteriological load of Mula-Mutha river in this stretch (Wakad to Dalaj) signaling the civic authorities to take necessary action on the illegal dumping of effluents from Industries, Sewage disposal into river on the basis of environment protection. |