Seasonal variations in seawater quality of two tourism affected shores off South Saurashtra Coastline, India

Abstract

The nature and distribution of the flora and fauna in the aquatic system are mainly controlled by the fluctuations in the physical and chemical characteristics of the water body (Sundaramanickamet al., 2008). The Arabian Sea is considered as one of the most productive zones in the world oceans (Qasim, 1977; De Sousa et al., 1996). Coastal regions between Okha and Bhavnagar is now a hot-spot for mega industries like Refineries, Cement, Chemicals, Soda Ash, Rayon, Power plant, Fertilizer and other supportive industries. This coastline is known for its rich marine life especially intertidal biota in its extended intertidal and sub tidal areas (Shukla and Misra, 1977). Going through the literature it was revealed that water quality studies of this area were patchy and meager (Bhadja and Kundu, 2012). Present studies therefore, have been aimed to set up a seasonal database of standard water quality parameters of five shores along the South Saurashtra coastline which are favorite for setting up mega industries or SEZ's. The investigation was carried out from November-2011 to April-2012 at two different stations Veradale (200 53' N, 700 26' E) and Diu (200 42' N, 710 01' E) along the South Saurashtra coastline of Arabian Sea (Figure 1). Veradale coast being, a part of the biggest commercial fishing centers in Asia, receives a huge amount of wastes, oil and effluents from the port. It also receives wastewater from domestic sewage system as well as from heavy industries and small scale fish processing plants of the city. On the other hand Diu, a small tourist town, is devoid of sorts of major industrial pollution and anthropogenic pressure. Each sampling stations were visited monthly and at least six samples of surface seawater were collected from different locations of the same coast. However, the locations for the collection of samples in a particular coast were fixed. Seawater samples were collected once in a month at uniform space from all the sampling sites for various water quality parameters. All the Parameters were determined following methods given in American Public Health Association (1995) and Trivedi and Goel (1986). Some of the parameters such aspH, Temperature, Conductivity measurement were carried out at site immediately after the collection of the water samples, while for other parameters, sample.