Water Quality Assessment of a Polluted Urban Lake with respect to Zooplankton

Abstract

The plankton community is a heterogeneous group of tiny plants and animals adapted to suspension in the water bodies of the entire globe. The movements of plankton are so feeble that they essentially remain at the mercy of water currents i.e. waves and tides. The producers of the aquatic ecosystems are the plant plankton i. e. phytoplanktons while consumers are the ani mal plankton i. e. zooplank ton . Th e ph yto & zoopl ankton constitute a dynamic chain on which fish fauna sustains & grows to be useful for the benefit of mankind. The pollution of water bodies is increasing day by day and a large number of water bodies are progressing towards eutrophication. The status of a water body is known from the presence of various kinds of species in it. The organic enrichment favours growth of a large number of species in a water body which results in its growth and development. Keeping these points in view assessment of water quality of a urban water body (Sonegaon lake) situated in the Nagpur city is done during monsoon and post monsoon months to know the exact status of zooplankton speci es prevailing in lake water. The lake water is pollu ted due to Ganesh idol immersion, garl an d i mme rsi on as wel l as l oad of de te rge n ts from wash in g an d oth e r activi ti e s. Th e l ake is sl owl y progressin g towards eutrophication as evide nt from the present studies on zooplankton.

Keywords

• Zooplankton
• Water quality