SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN TURAG RIVER WATER ALKALINITYSADIA NAZNEEN KAROBI, SAQUIB AHMAD KHAN, SHAIKH SAYED AHAMMEDAND KHONDOKAR AYAZ RABBANIAbstract Rivers in Bangladesh play a very important role in the life and economy of the country. Eventhough several key parameters of rivers are usually measured to adjudge the quality of rivers,alkalinity has been neglected in the routine measurement of river parameters. Alkalinity levels areimportant because they buffer acidic rain and acidic wastes and high alkalinity in river water cancause the change in the dynamics of chemical processes in the rivers. This paper reports theseasonal changes in the alkalinity of Turag, a commercially important river in Bangladesh on thebanks of the capital Dhaka. The results shows that overall alkalinity in the river is high due to thehigher level of bicarbonate contaminations and the discharge from industries including untreatedwastewater. There is no carbonate in water, but bicarbonate is very high specially at locations nearthe concrete and cement factories which opens up the possibility that the chemistry of urbanstreams is modified by the leaching of minerals from concrete infrastructure. This has far reachingconsequences for the amount of alkalinity in rivers and its potential impact on the environment. |