STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF IDOL IMMERSION ON WATER QUALITY OF RIVER GANGA AT RANIGHAT, CHANDERNAGORE (W.B.)

STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF IDOL IMMERSION ON WATER QUALITY OF RIVER GANGA AT RANIGHAT, CHANDERNAGORE (W.B.) *Rituparna Sarkar Department of Environmental Science, Chandernagore Govt. College, Chandernagore - 712 136, Hooghly (W.B.), India *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT The present investigation was done to assess the variations in the water quality of river Ganga at Ranighat of Chandernagore, Hoogly, W.B. during pre-immersion, immersion and post-immersion periods of Jagadhatri idols. The water samples were collected from Ranighat in three phases to assess the water quality parameters like temperature, ph, transparency, DO, conductivity, BOD, COD, total alkalinity, chloride, total hardness and phosphate. From the investigation it was cleared that there was marked variations in different parameters. It was found that the values of these parameters significantly increased during the period of immersion and declined in the post-immersion period. Key Words: Idol Immersion, River Ganga, Water Quality INTRODUCTION Water is polluted not only by effluent discharge from different industries or by sewage discharge but also by some religious activities like idol immersion. In India many festivals used to involve idol immersion and Jagadhatri puja of Chandernagore, W.B. is one among them. Various physico-chemical and biological characteristics of water bodies were reported by many researchers (Kaur and Joshi, 2003; Mishra and Tripathi, 2003; Saxena et al., 2005; Chandanshive et al., 2008; Zafar and Sultana, 2008; Patil et al., 2009; Singh et al., 2009; Sayeswara et al., 2010, 2011; Manikannan et al., 2011). The physicochemical characteristics of river water were changed after receiving different wastes like sewage, industrial and agricultural wastes (Sinha, 2002). The idols of Jagadhatri were immersed every year in the holy river Ganga at Ranighat, Chandernagore after worship. The water quality becomes significantly changed when the idols are immersed into it (Dhote et al., 2001). The present study mainly emphasized on the changes of water quality parameters during pre-immersion, immersion and post-immersion periods of idols into the river Ganga. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sampling Site: Ranighat, Chandernagore, Hooghly, W.B. (India) was selected as sampling site where a huge number of Jagadhatri idols are immersed every year. Water samples were collected from the sampling site during Jagadhatri Puja (2012) into three phases pre-immersion, immersion and postimmersion periods. Pre-immersion samples were collected before idol immersion into the river, immersion samples were collected after immersion of idols and post-immersion samples were collected one month interval after immersion phase. Physico-chemical Parameters Selected for Analysis: Temperature, ph, transparency, DO of the river (Ganga) water were measured at collection site. Temperature was recorded with the help of mercury thermometer, ph was recorded by hand ph meter and water transparency was measured by using Secchi disc. Whereas DO was measured by following Winkler s iodometric method. But for the measurement of other physico-chemical parameters, water samples were collected in plastic sampling bottles and transported to the laboratory, where different parameters viz., conductivity, BOD, COD, total alkalinity, chloride, total hardness, phosphate were analyzed by following APHA (1998). All the water samples were collected in each phase were analyzed five times and the results obtained were expressed as Mean ± SD. 24

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Water quality parameters of River Ganga at Ranighat, Chandernagore, W.B. were analyzed in different phases (pre-immersion, immersion and post-immersion periods) and the Mean±SD values of different water quality parameters have been illustrated in Table 1. Table 1: Analysis of water quality parameters of River Ganga at different phases of immersion Name of the parameters Pre-immersion Immersion Post-immersion Temperature ( o C) 33.0±0.07 30.4±0.03 31.2±0.05 ph 7.26±0.05 7.91±0.21 7.65±0.17 Transparency (cm) 32.90±2.34 14.57±1.45 21.30±1.65 Dissolved Oxygen (mg/l) 5.67±0.23 8.29±0.59 6.17±0.35 Conductivity (µs/cm) 210.30±23.18 283.96±37.43 265.48±26.02 BOD (mg/l) 2.25±0.22 3.41±0.47 3.18±0.36 COD (mg/l) 11.10±1.12 21.77±3.40 17.91±2.33 Total Alkalinity (mg/l) 95.67±22.18 167.24±43.33 133.01±39.07 Chloride (mg/l) 14.77±12.39 47.77±15.51 25.06±14.31 Total hardness (mg/l) 116.33±6.93 136.74±11.10 123.27±9.95 Phosphate (mg/l) 0.38±0.02 0.94±0.07 0.78±0.04 *Values are mean of five replicates±sd; BOD: Biochemical oxygen demand; COD: Chemical oxygen demand Temperature Temperature is an important parameter which helps in governing different physical, chemical and biological properties of an aquatic environment. The temperature of river water was 33.0 o C recorded during pre-immersion period. But 30.4 and 31.2 o C during immersion and post-immersion periods respectively (Table 1). The temperature fluctuations of river water usually depend on the season, geographic location, sampling time and also on temperature of effluents entering into the stream (Ahipathy and Puttiah, 2006). Both air and water temperature plays an important role in the physicochemical and physiological behavior of biotic components of aquatic ecosystem (Sawant et al., 2010). Temperature was found negatively correlated with DO (Das, 2000) and transparency (Reid and Wood, 1976). ph ph is the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration. ph change is accompanied by changes in the physico-chemical aspects of the aquatic medium. ph is also an important parameter for determining the acid-base balance of river water. An adverse concentration of hydrogen ion is difficult to treat by biological means. ph range between 7 to 8 has been indicated good for fish culture (Jhingran, 1977). In the present study, ph ranges between 7.26 to 7.91 (Table 1). 25

Transparency Water transparency is an impotant index of eutrophication evaluation of lake which directly reflected the lake limpid and muddy degree, affected by suspended solids and phytoplankton in water (Dokulil and Teubner, 2000). The transparency of river Ganga was quite low revealing. Water transparency is mainly affected by the factors like rainfall, Sun s position in the sky, angle of incidence of rays, cloudiness, visibility, turbidity and planktonic growth. Large quantities of inorganic and organic materials were added to the water bodies during the time of idol immersion contributing to turbidity (Reddy and Kumar, 2001). High turbidity creates damage to benthic community (Anitha, 2002). Present investigation shows that transparency decreased during immersion period (Table 1) due to addition of different materials from idols. DO Dissolved oxygen (DO) is not only an important for indicator of pollution (NEERI, 1988) but it also indicates the physical, chemical and biological activities of water body. According to Granier et al., (2000) the sources of DO in aquatic systems are photosynthesis, degradation of organic matter and reaeration. Dissolved Oxygen (DO) was 5.67 mg/l during pre-immersion but higher value was found during immersion period i.e., 8.29 mg/l because of increasing pollution (Table 1). Badren (2001) reported that DO showed to become low under high temperature and salinity. DO also show an inverse relationship with temperature (Boyd, 1981) because of oxidation (Patil and Dongare, 2006). Conductivity Conductivity is a measure of the ability of an aqueous solution to carry an electric current. This ability depends on the presence of ions, on their total concentration, mobility and valence and on the temperature of measurement. Electrical conductivity is found to be good indicator of water quality (Gaikwad et al., 2008). In the present investigation electrical conductivity value ranged from 210.30 to 283.96 µs/cm (Table 1). BOD Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a kind of measurement of the amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to cause the decomposition of certain organic and inorganic matter in the water. BOD gives an idea about the quantity of biodegradable organic substances present in water (Singh et al., 1999). Maximum BOD values of the river Ganga were observed during summer and minimum in winter (Shukla et al., 1992). The higher levels of BOD indicate the presence of more biodegradable organic matter (ICMR, 1975). Higher values of BOD have direct correlation with nutrient level (Mc Coy and Olson, 1986) but it has a strong negative correlation with DO. In the present study maximum BOD value was observed during immersion period i.e., 3.41mg/l (Table 1) due to increase amount of decomposition of organic matter into the river water. COD Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is the capacity of water to consume oxygen during the decomposition of organic matter. COD helps to indicate the pollution status of water body (WQM, 1999). In study period the maximum value 21.77 mg/l was recorded during immersion period and lowest value was recorded 11.10 mg/l during pre-immersion phase (Table 1). Total Alkalinity Alkalinity is a capacity of water which helps to neutralize a strong acid (Shinde, 2011). Different anions viz., carbonate (CO 3 - ), bicarbonate (HCO 3 - ), hydroxyl (OH - ), phosphate (PO 4-3 ) and silicate (SiO 4 - ) are contributed alkalinity to water. During summer the concentration of nutrient increased the alkalinity of water (Arasu et al., 2007) but the alkalinity became decreased in monsoon by the dilution of rainwater (Shinde et al., 2010). In the present investigation, the alkalinity values were found to be high during immersion i.e., 167.24 mg/l. This indicates that increasing the total alkalinity during immersion phase was due to the increasing concentration of nutrients in water. The value became declined after post-immersion phase (Table 1). 26

Chloride Increasing concentration of chloride in fresh water bodies acts as an indicator of pollution (Dhanapakiyam et al., 1999; Mini et al., 2003; Prakash, 2004). Many researchers (Sinha, 1986; Chatterjee and Raziuddin, 2002) reported that chloride concentration helped in increasing the degree of eutrophication. Trivedy and Goel (1986) reported that discharge of domestic sewage is the most important source of chloride. The present study showed that chloride content was maximum 47.77 mg/l during immersion due to pollution. Total Hardness Hardness is an important parameter for detecting water pollution. In the present investigation, the maximum hardness recorded during immersion period i.e., 136.74 mg /l and it became lowered after postimmersion period i.e., 123.27 mg/l. High value of total hardness during immersion was observed by different researchers (Dhamijia and Jain, 1995; Vyas and Bajpai, 2008; Gupta et al., 2011; Kaur, 2012; Malik et al., 2012). Phosphate Phosphate acts as an important plant nutrient. In river water phosphate comes from different sources viz., industrial wastes, agricultural run-off, municipal sewage and synthetic detergents. Higher concentration of phosphate in freshwater is an indication of pollution and eutrophy (Kotaiah, 1994; Ostojic, 2000). High monsoonal phosphate value was observed by Saravanakumar et al., (2008). But some researchers (Rajasegar, 2003; Nagarathna and Leelavathi, 2008; Manikannan et al., 2011) reported that the phosphate concentration became low during pre monsoon/post monsoon due to the limited rate of precipitation and utilization of phosphate by planktons. In the present investigation highest concentration of phosphate was obtained during immersion i.e., 0.94 mg/l (Table 1). ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author is thankful to Dr. P. K. Bhattacharya, Head of the Dept. of Chemistry and course coordinator of the Dept. of Environmental Science, Chandernagore Govt. College, Chandernagore, Hooghly, W.B., India for providing necessary laboratory facilities. REFERENCES Ahipati MV and Puttiah ET (2006). Ecological Characteristics of Vrishabhavathi River in Bangalore (India). Environmental Geology 49 1217-1222. Anitha G (2002). Hydrography in relation to benthic macroinvertebrates in Mir-Alam Lake Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh, India. PhD Thesis submitted to Osmania University, Hyderabad. APHA, AWWA and WPCF (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater 20th edition (Washington DC: American Public Health Association), New York, USA. Arasu PT, Hema S and Neelakantan MA (2007). Physico-chemical analysis of Tamirabarani river water in south India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology 1(2) 1-5. Badran MI (2001). Dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll and nutrients: seasonal cycles in waters of the Gulf Aqaba, Red Sea. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 4(2) 139-150. Boyd CE (1981). Water quality in warm water fish ponds. Craftmaster Printers, Inc. Opelika, Alabama 359. Chandhanshive NE, Pahade PM and Kumble SM (2008). Physico-chemical aspects of pollution of river Mula-Mutha at Pune, Maharashtra. Journal of Aquatic Biology 23(2) 1-55. Chatterjee C and Raziuddin M (2002). Determination of water quality index (WQI) of a degraded river in Asansol industrial area (W.B.). Ecology of polluted water II Ed. Arvind Kumar A.P.H. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. Das AK (2000). Limno-chemistry of some Andhra Pradesh Reservoirs. Journal Inland Fisheries Society of India 32(2) 37-44. Dhamijia SK and Jain Y (1995). Studies on the water quality index of a lentic waterbody at Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh. Polluting and Research Consultancy 14(3) 341-346. 27

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