Impact of seasonal variation and pollution level on distribution of microbial-aquatic organisms in Paodhoi river at Saharanpur

Abstract

Water pollution is serious issue with rapid progress of urbanization and industrialization in the country. The discharge of sewage and industrial waste and effluents to water resource is damaging both flora and fauna near the receiving water bodies. Paodhoi River originates at the foot hills of Shivalik ranges and passes through main city of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India and finally confluence into the Hindane River near Tapri. The quality of the water of river at origin is quite good but as it enters into city, this river carries large volume of municipal waste, sewage waste as well as industrial waste. The collected water samples in three season viz., summer, winter and monsoon from three sampling sites for two consecutive years revealed that level of BOD were near to alarming stage at downstream and quality of river water was worse than treated wastewater from industry. Presence of type of microorganism and aquatic organisms provide a clue on the environmental conditions prevailing in the particular habitat. The concentration of total phytoplankton was found highest (488 μ/l ± 30.46) in the summer season at upstream with good water quality and deteriorated to lowest in the downstream with polluted water. Similarly MPN count was highest in the downstream.