Determination of water quality index of Indraprastha estate region and the vicinity area in Delhi, India

Water quality index (WQI) expresses overall water quality at a certain location and time, based on several water quality parameters reducing great amount of parameters to a number that expresses the acceptability of water to the user. In the present study an attempt has been made to determine the water quality index of industrial outlet and along river Yamuna in Delhi, India. For calculating the WQI, the following eleven parameters were considered: pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, total alkalinity and chloride. A disturbing observation was the level of dissolved oxygen in Yamuna River at Nizamuddin drain which was found to be nil. The water quality index of gas turbine station outlet was 202.9136 and that of thermal power plant outlet was 207.869. The water quality index of Yamuna River at Nizamuddin drain was found to be the maximum at 262.555 indicating very high level of pollution. The present study revealed that Yamuna River was in a critical condition and the extent of pollution was extremely high . K E Y W O R D S Water quality index | Yamuna | Nizamuddin drain | Dissolved oxygen C I T A T I O N Madan, Richa; Chaudhry, Smita; Sharma, Manju and Madan, Sangeeta (2018): Determination of water quality index of Indraprastha estate region and the vicinity area in Delhi, India. ESSENCE Int. J. Env. Rehab. Conserv. IX (1): 89—100. https://doi.org/10.31786/09756272.18.9.1.126 https://eoi.citefactor.org/10.11208/essence.18.9.1.126 Original Research Article Determination of water quality index of Indraprastha estate region and the vicinity area in Delhi, India Madan, Richa; Chaudhry, Smita; Sharma, Manju and Madan, Sangeeta Institute of Environmental Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India Corresponding Author: richa.madan.92@gmail.com International Journal for Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation ISSN: 0975 — 6272 IX (1): 204— 216 www.essence-journal.com A R T I C L E I N F O Received: 10 January 2018 | Accepted: 22 April 2018 | Published Online: 15 August 2018 DOI: 10.31786/09756272.18.9.1.126 EOI: 10.11208/essence.18.9.1.126 Article is an Open Access Publication. This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ©The Authors (2018). Publishing Rights @ MANU—ICMANU & ESSENCE—IJERC ESSENCE—IJERC | Richa et. al. (2018) | IX (1): 204—216 205 Introduction Rapid industrial development in the last few decades has added huge loads of pollutants to our rivers. Water pollution is a major problem in India. The main causes of water pollution include discharge of industrial effluents, municipal sewage, oil spills, introduction of fertilizers and chemicals and mining. Discharge activities contribute the highest to water pollution. Only about 10% of the waste water generated is treated; the rest is discharged as it is into our water bodies. Due to this, pollutants enter into groundwater, rivers and other water bodies (Hindustan Times, March 2013). River Yamuna is the largest tributary of River Ganga. The total length of Yamuna River from its origin at Saptrishi Kund to its confluence with Ganga at Allahabad is 1376 km traversing through Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and NCT – Delhi. The main stream of river originates from the Yamunotri glacier (Saptrishi Kund) near Bander punch peaks in the Mussoorie range of the lower Himalayas in Uttarkashi district of Uttaranchal (Rani et al., 2013). Yamuna acts as the life line for the majority of the cities like Yamuna Nagar (Haryana), Panipat, Sonipat, Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Mathura and Agra. There are unlimited numbers of industrial units, draining immense amount of untreated water in Yamuna existing in Delhi, Faridabad, Mathura and Agra. CPCB had estimated that there were approximately 359 industrial units, which directly or indirectly discharge their effluents in Yamuna (Misra, 2010). It is estimated that about 92% of Yamuna river water is used for irrigation (CPCB, 2006). The river water is also used for bathing & washing. It is one of the most important uses of river water in the country. The river water is also used for washing clothes and utensils by nearby communities, and by the poor inhabitants along the banks. The cattle in most of the towns & villages are taken to the river for drinking and bathing. Agricultural runoff is also one of the main sources of contamination in the Yamuna River, which directly or indirectly affects river water quality through, ground and surface water runoff. Dumping of solid waste and garbage is one of the major problems in Yamuna River. Majority of people in small cities and towns do not have sanitation facilities. Thus most of the people use river catchment areas for defecation, which causes pathogenic and organic contamination in the river. People also have the habit of dumping unburnt bodies of human beings and animals into the river. Due to excessive industrialization and urbanization, river Yamuna especially in Delhi, Mathura and Agra has now become a drain. The water pollution of the river has gained large heights and it is necessary to develop awareness among masses, education and improved watershed management that will improve the water quality of this holy river (Misra, 2010; Matta, 2010; Matta, 2014). Water quality index is a unit less number on a scale of 0 to 100. It provides a single number that expresses overall water quality at a certain location and time, based on several water quality parameters. The objective of water quality index is to turn complex water quality data into information that is acceptable and usable by the public (Yogendra and Puttaiah, 2008). There is no single measure that can describe overall water quality for any one body of water. Although there is no globally accepted composite index of water quality, some countries and regions have used, or are using, aggregated water quality data in the development of water quality indices. The present study is intended to determine the water quality index in vicinity of industries and along river Yamuna in Delhi. It also tries to make an attempt to assess the extent of pollution in the vicinity of industries. Materials and methods Study Area Delhi, capital city of India, is a mega-metropolis situated on the banks of the river Yamuna. Yamuna River passing through 22 km in Delhi was once described as the lifeline of the city, but today it has become one of the dirtiest rivers in the country. According to the latest status of water quality in India (2007) released by CPCB the ESSENCE—IJERC | Richa et. al. (2018) | IX (1): 204—216 206 Yamuna water quality at Okhla and Nizamuddin bridges has been described as the worst affected. In the present study three samples were collected each from the outlet of Gas Turbine Power Station (W1, W2, W3), outlet of Pragati Thermal Power Plant (W4, W5, W6), Yamuna river water from Nizamuddin Drain (W7, W8, W9), Ground Water near Nizamuddin Bridge (W10, W11, W12), Pond water near Nizamuddin Bridge (W13, W14, W15). The samples collected were analysed for Temperature, pH, Electrical conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Salinity, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Chloride, Sodium, Potassium. Physico-chemical analysis of the wastewater and river water was conducted by referring Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater; APHA, AWWA and WEF, 21st Edition, 2005. All the results are compared with standard limits recommended by WHO (2004) and BIS (2003). Weighted arithmetic water quality index method classified the water quality according to the degree of purity by using the most commonly measured water quality variables (Kumar et al. 2015). The method has been widely used by the various scientists (Matta et al., 2017; 2018) and the calculation of WQI was made by using the following equation: WQI = The quality rating scale (Qi) for each parameter is calculated by using this expression: Where, Vi = estimated concentration of i parameter in the analysed water Vo = the ideal value of this parameter in pure water V0 = 0 (except pH =7.0 and DO = 14.6 mg/l) Si = recommended standard value of i parameter The unit weight (Wi) each water quality parameter is calculated by using the following formula: Where, K = proportionality constant The drinking water standards and water quality index and status are given in table I and II resp. Table 1 gives the drinking water standards and →Sampling Sites S .N o . P a ra m et er S ta n d a rd A g en cy 1 p H 6 .5 -8 .5 IC M R /B IS 2 E le ct ri ca l C o n d u ct iv it y (μ S c m − 1) 3 0 0 IC M R 3 T o ta l D is so lv ed S o li d s( m g /L ) 5 0 0 IC M R /B IS 4 S al in it y ( m g /L ) 4 0 U S P H S 5 T o ta l A lk al in it y ( m g /L ) 2 0 0 B IS 6 T o ta l H ar d n es s (m g /L C a C O 3 3 0 0 IC M R 7 D is so lv ed O x y g e n ( m g /L ) 5 IC M R 8 B io lo g ic al O x y g e n D e m an d ( m g /L ) 5 IC M R 9 C h lo ri d e (m g /L ) 2 5 0 B IS 1 0 C al ci u m ( m g /L ) 7 5 IC M R 1 1 M ag n e si u m ( m g /L ) 3 0 IC M R 1 2 S o d iu m ( m g /L ) 2 0 0 W H O 1 3 P o ta ss iu m ( m g /L ) 1 2 W H O T a b le 1 : D ri n k in g W at er S ta n d ar d s ESSENCE—IJERC | Richa et. al. (2018) | IX (1): 204—216 207 Table 2 gives the water quality index and status. Results and Discussion The results of the physico-chemical parameters and water quality index are given in Table 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 resp. Temperature is the most important physical property of surface water which determines its chemical properties. The temperature of the sites varied from 20°C to 28°C. The temperature of Yamuna river samples collected from Nizamuddin drain varied from 23°C to 25°C. The change in water temperature could be attributed to r