Comparative Investigation of Physicochemical and Entomological Parameters at Neyyar and Karamana Rivers

Abstract

Water is a precious natural resource which made life possible on earth. Most of the human civilization occurred on the banks of rivers. Pollution is the major problem faced by rivers of the world. Rivers are mainly polluted due to anthropogenic activities like disposal of sewage and industrial effluents, excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, sand mining, construction activities, etc. Many of the major rivers of Kerala are on the brink of death due to the pollution crisis. Prevention of pollution and conservation of rivers is very important for the protection of the health of the ecosystem as well as our economy. Proper studies related to water quality index of rivers are necessary to understand the pollution rate of rivers. As a result of this assistance, a proper remedy to protect from pollution assures good water and their sustainability for our future generations. The present study focuses the comparison and analysis of the physico-chemical and entomological parameters of two lotic ecosystems. Neyyar river was taken as the reference site and downstream stretches of Karamana river was taken as the test site. Water samples and arthropods were collected from the selected sites of the study areas during the pre-monsoon period of 2020. The parameters analyzed for this study were temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon dioxide and productivity. Entomological parameters were also studied to compare the pollution rate of these sites. The correlation of these parameters were analyzed to prove its statistical significance. The downstream stretches of Karamana river seemed to be highly polluted while comparing with the upstream stretches of Neyyar river due to the increased human settlement and anthropogenic activities.