Water Quality Assessment of Sahastradhara Stream, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

Sahastradhara stream is a main attraction of tourist as well as source of household and potable water for the region and the surrounding villages. The stream is being polluted attributable to a variety of human-made activities and water quality is being deteriorated. During these studies, water samples were collected from the three different The physical-chemical characteristics of the water, including temperature, pH, transparency, turbidity, DO, BOD, CO2, alkalinity, and chloride, were analysed at Site-I (the reference Site), Site-II (the more popular tourist destination, severely contaminated Site), and Site-III (moderately polluted). The Physico-chemical parameters were recorded highest at Site-II (DO 7.5mg/l), Turbidity (58.1-80.16 NTU), Alkalinity (245.4-308.2mg L-1), pH (6.1-7.2), temperature (25.60C-27.60C), BOD (1.5 mg/l-2.6mg/l), CO2 (1.5-1.83) followed by S-3 (temperature 26.2-27.20C, pH 7.1-7.2, tur. 79.2-81.1cm, DO 8.1-8.2mg/l, CO2 1.62-1.81, Alkalinity 255.6-262.2 mg/l, BOD, 2.3-2.4 mg/l, Chloride 32.1-32.5 mg/l) and S-I (temperature 25.6-26.30C, pH 7.0-7.1, turbidity 60.2-68.2cm, DO 8.5, CO2, 1.53-1.62 mg/l, Alkalinity, 250.2-256.6 mg/l, BOD,1.5-1.6 mg/l, chloride, 30.0-30.2 mg/l). The study has shown that water at Site-I of Sahastradhara stream is suitable for human use and other purposes, whereas Due to a major change in the water quality of the Sahastradhara stream brought on by various touristic and anthropogenic activities, the water at Sites II and III is unfit for all uses. At the 5% level of significance, every parameter changed considerably over the study period.