Physicochemical investigation of some primitive water sources in district Champawat for potability and preservation of historical aesthetics, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

The present study deals with the assessment of physicochemical properties of spring water samples collected from the surroundings of Champawat city, Uttarakhand, India. The total of twenty-three parameters were analysed for the study including pH, total dissolved solids (TDS) (mg/L), electrical conductance (EC) (µS/cm), temperature (T) (°C), dissolved oxygen (DO) (mg/L), chloride (Cl-) (mg/L), and uranium (U) (µg/L). The seasonal variation was also observed in these samples. In the hills, spring water has been the common source of public water supply from ancient times, therefore this study includes the springs that have survived from the distant past and were being used for drinking purpose at earlier time. However, with time, the quality of these water sources has depleted due to both natural and anthropogenic reasons to such an extent that two of these sources are not in use any more. The analysis has shown that pH of these samples ranged from 6.74 - 7.77, the highest values of TDS and nitrate (NO3-) were observed to be 500 mg/L and 39.1 mg/L respectively. This study can help determine the present state of these ancient water sources, which can be used as alternative water sources in the time of water supply crisis, and maintaining these historical water sources can be an example of sustainable development and preservation of historical aesthetics.

Keywords

• spring water
• physicochemical properties
• subterranean spring
• drinking water