Water quality assessment of Ajay River with reference to suitability for agricultural purposes

Water quality assessment of Ajay River with reference to suitability for agricultural purposes BALWANT KUMAR 1, UMESH KUMAR SINGH 1 *, PRATAP KUMAR PADHY 2 1. Department of Integrated Science Education and Research (DISER) Institute of Science, Visva- Bharati, Santiniketan-731235, Birbhum, West Bengal, India, 2. Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan- 731235, Birbhum, West Bengal, India *umeshkumar.singh@visva-bharati.ac.in Abstract Ajay River is an important river of the state of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Seven sites of Ajay river were selected for present investigation which are located at Deoghar, Jamtara, Chittaranjan. Illambazar, Bolpur, Natunhat and Katwa. Chittaranjan is one of the well known industrial belts of west Bengal. The present study focused on the physicochemical characteristic of Ajay river water collected from seven sites. Water samples were analysed for ten parameters to determine the overall quality with respect to ph, temperature (Temp), dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), calcium (Ca 2+ ), magnesium (Mg 2+ ), ammonium (NH4 + ), sodium (Na + ) and potassium (K + ) following the methods described by APHA (2005). Temp, ph and DO were measured in the field itself as these parameters are very sensitive. From the result most of the parameters were found to be within the permissible limits of prescribed standards except DO. Suitability of water for irrigation was also tested using sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and, percentage sodium (%Na). Chemometrics further helped in clear interpretation of the water quality status. SAR and % Na indices displayed that water is suitable for irrigation and useable for agriculture. The river water of Deoghar, Chittaranjan, Jamtara Illambazar, Bolpur, Natunhat and Katwa were found to be ecologically suitable and sustainable because of absence of any major anthropogenic influence. The information generated in the present study would be immensely helpful to the people of the area concerned and also to the policy makers. KEY WORDS: Chemometrics, Percentage sodium, Sodium absorption ratio 1

1. Introduction: Water is most vital natural resources present on the earth to the survival of the living beings. Riverine system play important role to transport fresh water from accounts of 2.6% of the total fresh water available on the earth (Kumar et al., 2012). Rivers always attracted human civilization due to their fertile basin and availability of freshwater. River water fulfill the need of various thing such as drinking, washing, animal husbandry, industrial, agricultural and recreational purposes (Kumar Manoj et al., 2013). Ajay River is an important river of the state of Jharkhand and West Bengal which is originates on a small hill about 300 metres high, south west of Munger in Bihar. It then flows through Jharkhand and enters West Bengal at Simjuri, near Chittaranjan. The important tributaries of the Ajay are Pathro and Jayanti in Jharkhand, and Tumuni and Kunur in Bardhaman district of West Bengal. It then joins the Bhagirathi River at Katwa town. Total length of the Ajay is 288 km, out of which 152 km is in West Bengal the catchment area of Ajay River is 6,000 km 2. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ajay_river). Pollution of river is a global problem. In India it is reported that about 70% of the available water is polluted. The chief source of pollution is identified as sewage constituting 84 to 92% of the waste water. Industrial waste water comprised 8 to 16 percent (Joshi et al., 2009). The indiscriminate large scale industrialization and urbanization give pressure on sewerage system resulting large amount of untreated water dispose in the river which create pollution. 2. Materials And Methods 2.1. Study area Seven study areas consisted lying in the Indian states of West Bengal and Jharkhand based on the nature of effluent discharge into the river and their geographical backgrounds. The location for collection of water samples of the river water has been indicated on map (Fig. 1). 2.2. Sampling procedure and preservation Water samples were collected from saven locations along the route of the ajay River basin (Fig. 1) during pre-monsoon, April 2014, period and analysed for their physicochemical properties. Standard procedures as described by APHA (2005) were followed for the Sample collections, stabilisation, and transportation to the laboratory as well as storage. All the samples were processed within 6 hours of their collection. 2.3. Sample analyses Water samples were analysed for ten parameters to determine the overall quality with respect to ph, temperature (Temp), dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), calcium (Ca 2+ ), magnesium (Mg 2+ ), ammonium (NH4 + ), sodium (Na + ) and potassium (K + ) following the methods described by APHA (2005). Temp, ph and DO were measured on the field. All the reagents were of analytical grade 2

purchased from Merck, India. To prepare all the reagents and calibration standards Millipore water were used. Figure 1.: Description of Study Area and Sampling Location of Ajay River 2.4. Basic statistical and correlation analyses Descriptive statistics of the studied physicochemical variables for all studied sampling sites was determined. Correlation analysis using Pearson correlation matrix was done to determine the interrelationship between the variables. 2.5. Suitability of river water for irrigation Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and percentage sodium (%Na) indices were used to assess the suitability of the Ajay River water for irrigation. Sodium hazard is typically expressed as SAR. This index describes the concentration of sodium in relation to the combined concentrations of calcium and magnesium. SAR was calculated as given below (USSL, 1954): 3

SAR = %Na is also used to evaluate sodium hazard as water with higher %Na may result in sodium accumulations which can cause undesirable changes in the physical properties of the soil and reduce soil permeability. %Na was obtained from the equation given below (Wilcox, 1955): %Na = 3. Results And Discussion 3.1. Physicochemical characterization The results obtained for ten physicochemical parameters in this study are presented in Table 1. The ph range indicates moderately alkaline water of river Ajay. Temperature did not vary much among the sampling sites. DO values were less than the regulatory standard ( 6.0 mg/l) at most of the sampling sites. DO levels are important in the natural self-purification capacity of the river (Suthar et al., 2009). Electrical conductivity of the Ajay river water was significantly different along the basin route. Similar results were obtained for TDS. Hardness values indicate relatively soft nature of river water. Concentration of Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ were found to be within the permissible limits of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, India). Readings of Na + and K + were found to be within the permissible limits. Similar results were obtained for NH4. Table 1: Physicochemical properties of the water samples Site ph Temp DO EC TDS Ca 2+ Mg 2+ Na + K + NH4 + C mg/l µs/cm mg/l mg/l mg/l mg/l mg/l mg/l S 1. 6.67 17 4.6 280.75 180.0 30.844 8.531 37.473 3.048-0.201 S 2. 7.18 16 4.4 207.31 134.75 5.355 1.353 4.044 0.411-0.334 S 3. 7.32 17 5.2 215.86 140.31 27.677 7.108 25.165 3.217 0.68 S 4. 7.17 17 4.8 213.94 122.6 5.363 1.48 3.808 0.422-0.301 S 5. 7.07 16 4.2 270.99 176.14 35.605 9.162 29.686 5.912 1.067 S 6. 7.70 17 5.8 234.24 153.16 28.598 7.124 26.565 4.601 0.069 S 7. 7.62 16 5.4 223.26 115.29 23.565 6.152 23.463 2.413 0.056 3.2. Suitability of river water for irrigation The calculated values of SAR and % Na are displayed in Table 2. SAR index is typically used to express sodium hazard in more reliable manner. According to Todd (1980) waters with SAR values < 10 are excellent for irrigation related works. In this study SAR values vary from 0.287 4

to 1.183 indicating suitability of the river water for irrigation. Salinity hazard for crop productivity is measured in terms of electrical conductivity. Waters with conductivity from 250 750 µs/cm are considered well for irrigation. All major sampling sites from S.1 to S.7 in this study display conductivity to be < 750 µs/cm showing the suitable nature of the river water for irrigation. The United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL, 1954) diagram describes relation between SAR and conductivity of water samples and places them into irrigation water categories based on the combination of the two parameters (Anim et al., 2011). Salinity diagram for the Ajay River is displayed in Fig. 2. It is observed that all major sites from S.1, S.2, S.3, S.4, and S.6 sites fall into C1S1 category and only S.5 and S.7 sites come under C2S1 category. This indicates suitability of the river water for irrigation and other agricultural activities. Plotting %Na against conductivity, designated as Wilcox diagram (Fig. 3), can also be used for water classification varying from excellent to unsuitable (Wilcox, 1955). Table 2: Major ions and salinity indices Sampling Na + K + Ca 2+ Mg 2+ SAR % Na sites (meq/l) (meq/l) (meq/l) (meq/l) S.1 1.629 0.078 1.542 0.710 1.183 43.11 S.2 0.175 0.010 0.267 0.112 0.402 32.80 S.3 1.094 0.082 1.383 0.592 1.101 37.32 S.4 0.165 0.010 0.268 0.123 0.287 30.91 S.5 1.290 0.151 1.780 0.763 1.144 36.16 S.6 1.155 0.117 1.429 0.593 1.149 38.61 S.7 1.020 0.061 1.778 0.512 0.953 32.06 Figure 2: USSL diagram for classification of river waters for irrigation 5

Figure3: Wilcox diagram for classification of river waters for irrigation 3.3. Correlation analysis Correlation coefficients obtained between different physicochemical parameters is presented in Table 4. Most of the components show good correlation among themselves indicating interrelationships and interactions between the parameters. ph show positive correlation with DO whereas EC and TDS reveal to be most significantly correlated and significantly correlated with Na +, Ca + and Mg +. Significant relationships are shown by ions like Na +, K +, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ on the overall TDS of water. Na + reveals positive correlation with K + Ca 2+ and Mg 2+. NH4 displays significant relationship with K +, and Ca 2+. As expected, K + showed significantly high positive correlation with Ca 2+ and Mg 2+. Ca 2+ showed significantly high positive correlation with Mg 2+. Table3: Correlation analysis of the studied physicochemical parameters ph Temp DO EC TDS Na + NH4 + K + Ca 2+ Mg 2+ ph 1 -.115.795 * -.582 -.594 -.181.067.083 -.044 -.108 Temp 1.402.043. 148.175 -.202 -.024.071.085 DO 1 -.350 -.392.150 -.114.104.147.113 EC 1. 892 **.797 *.332.662.736 *.772 * TDS 1.705 *.388.680 *.684 *.703 * Na + 1.482.791 *.955 **.971 ** NH4 + 1.790 *.700 *.667 K + 1.925 **.899 ** Ca 2+ 1.997 ** Mg 2+ 1 *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level; ** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level 6

3.4. Basic statistical analyses Basic statistics for the water quality of the Ajay River is given in Table 3. Skewness values indicate parameters like ph, Temp, Na +, Ca 2+ to be negatively and moderately skewed. Parameters like DO, EC, TDS, NH 4, and K + are found to be positively and moderately skewed. Thus, we can say that the concentrations of the parameters are not uniformly distributed which can also be confirmed by their high variance values. Table 4: Descriptive statistics for the studied physicochemical parameters Parameters Min Max Mean Median SD Variance Kurtosis Skewness ph 6.67 7.7 7.247 7.18 0.347 0.120 0.152-0.297 Temp 16 17 16.571 17 0.534 0.285-2.8-0.374 DO 4.2 5.8 4.914 4.8 0.575 0.331-1.075 0.366 EC 207.31 280.75 235.192 223.26 29.163 850.514-0.937 0.942 TDS 115.29 180 146.035 140.31 25.050 627.546-1.409 0.345 Na + 3.808 37.473 21.457 25.165 12.798 163.798-0.873-0.659 NH4 + -0.334 1.067 0.148 0.056 0.531 0.283-0.138 1.054 K + 0.411 5.912 2.860 3.048 2.0268 4.108-0.774 0.124 Ca 2+ 5.355 35.605 22.429 27.677 12.207 149.012-1.045-0.857 Mg 2+ 1.353 9.162 5.844 7.108 3.182 10.128-1.087-0.822 Conclusions Water quality parameters including ph, Temp, EC, TDS, Na +, NH4 +, K +, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ meet the water quality criteria except the DO value. Chemometrics identified geogenic activities to be principally responsible for the dissolved ions in the river water. Two important indices SAR and % Na along with USSL diagram and Wilcox diagram revealed river water to be suitable for agriculture. These arguments clearly show overall quality of the river water along the project sites to be unpolluted and ecologically suitable and sustainable. Acknowledgement Authors acknowledge the financial grant through Major Research Project from University Grant Commission (UGC), India (F. No. 42-437/2013 (SR)) to carry out this work. 7

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