Abstract
Water quality of River Ravi, a tributary of Indus River System was evaluated by Water Quality Index (WQI) technique. A water quality index provides a single number that expresses overall water quality at a certain location and time based on several water quality parameters. The objective of an index is to turn complex water quality data into information that is understandable and useable by the public. Eight most important parameters such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, calcium(Ca), magnesium (Mg), total alkalinity, dissolved oxygen (DO) and electrical conductivity (EC) were taken for the calculation of WQI. The WQI values for the River Ravi ranged from 54.8 to 97.88. The values of WQI showed that the water was free of any impurities at the sampling site except for 2-3 months where its values were less than 70. Whenever there are human activities e.g., dam operations, water gets polluted to some extent, so the value of WQI decreases. It was found that the parameter which is required in least amount contributes a high statistical value to the index. It is concluded that WQI can be used as a tool in comparing the water quality of different sources. It gives the public a general idea of the possible problems with water in a particular region. The indices are among the most effective ways to communicate the information on water quality trends to the public or to the policy makers and water quality management.KEYWORDS: WQI, River Ravi, Madhopur, India
Highlights
Rivers are large natural stream of water emptying into an ocean, lake, or other bodies of water and usually fed along its course by converging tributaries
The objective of this study is to investigate the water quality of River Ravi at Madhopur, District Gurdaspur (India) which is a part of Indus River System, by using a Water Quality Index (WQI)
The analysis was done for three years i.e., January 2003 to December 2005.The samples were collected from the surface water of the River
Summary
Rivers are large natural stream of water emptying into an ocean, lake, or other bodies of water and usually fed along its course by converging tributaries. They contain only about 0.0001% of the total amount of water in the world at any given time, rivers are vital carriers of water and nutrients to areas all around the earth (Wetzel, 2001). The water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge and release of stored water in natural reservoirs, such as a glacier. Riverine water quality is an important issue for each stakeholder as it affects human uses as well as plant and animal life
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