Water Quality Index of Arkavathi River and Surrounding Groundwater

Abstract

Abstract Aim: Finding out the water quality of Arkavathi river, a tributary of the Kaveri system and surrounding groundwater is the aim of the present work using the water quality index (WQI) method. Materials and Methods: WQIs contribute a single number which indicates altogether quality of water at a particular sampling point based on varied water quality parameters. An effort has been ready to invent a WQI using 11 water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, dissolve oxygen, alkalinity, chloride, iron, nitrate, fluoride, total hardness, total dissolved solids, and biochemical oxygen demand measured at five various locations along the Arkavathi river just downstream of wastewater disposal points of Ramanagar town and six groundwater samples surrounding the river basin. Weighted arithmetic WQI technique was used to discover overall WQI. Results: The values of WQI for downstream of wastewater disposal points of Ramanagar town rivers vary from 33.78 to 76.82 and for groundwater vary from 38.6241.77 to 65.95. Based on this, the river quality and groundwater at some of the sampling stations were not suitable for drinking. Conclusions: The quality of water is substandard because mainly in the river samples because of the disposal of untreated sewage and industrial effluent generated from the Ramanagar town is directly without any treatment, improper sanitation condition in the nearby city banks of the river, and also, wastewater discharge from surrounding villages, human activities, urban runoff, and agriculture activities.

Keywords

• groundwater
• river
• water quality
• water quality index