Assessment of water quality index of different water bodies of Pusa, Bihar

Abstract

Water quality of river (Budhi Dandak), ponds, hand pump and deep tube wells of Pusa village were evaluated by Water Quality Index (WQI) technique.Water quality is directly related to the physical, chemical and biological property of water. These properties of water were affected by the human activities such as disposal of pollutant in the water bodies that changes the standard quantity parameters of water. The objective of an index is to turn complex water quality data into information that is understandable and useable by the public. Seven most important parameters such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), sodium (Na), Chloride (Cl-), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and electrical conductivity (EC) were taken for the calculation of WQI. WQI obtained from different water sources such as river, pond, hand pump & deep tube well were found to be 30.60, 33.19, 44.41 and 41.05 respectively. The different values of various parameters were analyzed and found that pH was in the range of 7.2-7, Cl- ions concentration ranged from 42.55-99.29 (mg/l), TDS concentration 186-494 (mg/L), and Ca + Mg concentration 130-257 (mg/l), Na 56-118 (mg/l) and EC concentration 387-882 (µS/cm) respectively. We concluded that pH, Cl-, TDS and Ca + Mg were found in permissible limit but EC and Na+ were excess from permissible limit.Water quality index level shows that the water of water bodies in Pusa were not fit for direct use or drinking purpose, but good for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes.