Assessment of water quality of the Bhima River for drinking purpose by water quality index

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine various water characteristics of the Bhima River and its suitability for drinking, followed by a water quality index evaluation. For continuous monitoring, samples were taken at eight locations between October 2020 and September 2021. The physicochemical parameters, such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved oxygen (DO), total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), chloride (Cl-), sulphate (SO42-), phosphate (PO43-), and nitrate (NO3-) were measured. The measured values of these parameters were compared with Indian standards. Due to anthropogenic activities, values of parameters EC, TH, and TA at all the stations exceeded their BIS limits (The Bureau of Indian Standards). It was found that the river's total water quality index ranged from 45.23 to 75.43, indicating that the water quality varies from good to very poor. Correlation reveals that EC and TDS show remarkable similarities and a strong correlation was existed between total hardness and total alkalinity indicating anthropogenic activities. Therefore, it is important to assess physiochemical concentration of the river water before using it for drinking.

Keywords

• bhima river
• correlation
• physicochemical parameters
• water quality index