SURFACE WATER QUALITY AND POLLUTION LOAD IN RIVER KALIEAST: A TRIBUTARY OF RIVER GANGA, INDIAAjit Kumar Vidyarthi, Vivek Rana, Garima Dublish, Prabhat Ranjan and Mrinal Kanti BiswasAbstract River Kali-East, a tributary of river Ganga, is a non-perennial river of India which is highly driven by the discharge of industrial effluent. The surface water quality of the river indicated that color varied as 20-200 Hazen, dissolved oxygen (DO) as 0-8.16 mg/L, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)as 6.6-410 mg/L, chemical oxygen demand (COD) as 22-1409 mg/L, total suspended solids as 38-4386 mg/L, total dissolved solids as 180-2536 mg/L and fecal coliform as 4.9 Ã 102-34 Ã 107 MPN/100 mL. The river was highly polluted in the stretch from Muzaffarnagar to Bulandshahar district (DO was NIL and BOD reached up to 410 mg/L). No location in the stretch from Muzaffarnagar to Aligarh was found suitable for bathing with respect to DO and BOD. High BOD and COD in the river revealed untreated/partially treated industrial discharge into the river and the self-purification capacity of the river Kali-East has been inhibited for a long distance by heavy and undiminished influx of domestic sewage into the river. Twenty-six drains discharge a total organic load of 148 tonnes per day into the river. Maximum pollution load was contributed by Odean Nala (42%) in Meerut district. This study recommends strict regulatory norms for discharge of industrial effluents by the industries in the catchment area of the river, reduction in sewage treatment gap by utilizing alternative treatment technologies (such as constructed wetlands) and proper dilution of polluted river water to improve the overall quality of the river. |