Surface water Quality Assessment along Mahanadi River using WQI and GIS

Abstract

Due to various environmental and natural or artificial disturbances, determining the purity of river water is an important task. The challenge is that getting the water quality within the standard permitted levels for drinking, industrial, and agricultural applications are deemed extremely challenging. The impact of agricultural operations and residential pollutants on Mahanadi Basin water quality was assessed. The purpose is to investigate the Mahanadi River's water quality using the water quality index method and GIS software. For an 18-year detection time, twenty parameters were collected (2000-2018). These constituents were measured to learn more about their geospatial distribution and pollution levels. A broad catchment area with 19 water quality sites was chosen because the rivers and streams pass through a geomorphic, geographical, hydrologic, and industrially diverse region. PH levels are slightly alkaline. Other parameter analysis results were compared to WHO-recommended maximum allowable limit values. In this investigation, the WQI values calculated vary from 28.28 to 60.10. The Mahanadi River has a well to poor water quality rating, according to the WQI map. However, two stations, Cuttack D/s and Paradeep, have low water quality. All ofthe other sites are in a good category. The most significant contaminants are TC, BOD, and TKN. As per Nemerow's pollution index, some parameters had greater values above the WHO's acceptable and allowed thresholds. Furthermore, Pearson's coefficient analysis demonstrated a significant and particular association between the variables under study. Despite the conflict between development and conservation, this result will undoubtedly aid policymakers in achieving sustainable environmental management.