Spatial changes in water and heavy metal contamination in water and sediment of river Ganga in the river belt Haridwar to Kanpur

• Published in: Environmental geochemistry and health Vol. 42; no. 7; pp. 2059 - 2079
• Main Authors: Kumar, Dinesh, Malik, D. S., Kumar, Narendra, Gupta, Neelima, Gupta, Varsha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-07-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alkalinity; Atomic absorption analysis; Biochemical oxygen demand; Cadmium; Chemical oxygen demand; Chromium; Contamination; Copper; Dissolved oxygen; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Fish; Geochemistry; Heavy metals; Investment; Lead; Monsoons; Original Research; Oxygen; pH effects; Public Health; Rivers; Sediment; Sediment samplers; Sediment samples; Soil Science & Conservation; Spectral analysis; Spectrophotometers; Survival; Terrestrial Pollution; Total oxygen demand; Tributaries; Water analysis; Water hardness; Water pollution; Water quality; Water quality control; Water quality standards; Water sampling; Winter; River health; Oxygen demand; Water quality index (WQI); Heavy metals; Fish tolerance
• ISSN: 0269-4042; 1573-2983
• DOI: 10.1007/s10653-019-00471-8

Despite heavy investments and a number of government schemes, deterioration in water quality of river Ganga and its tributaries is an issue of serious concern. Among all the cities, thriving on Ganga, Kanpur is considered to add maximum pollution in the river. In the present study, water samples were collected seasonally from nine selected sites within the middle stretch of river Ganga from Haridwar to Kanpur. The velocity, temperature, pH, alkalinity, hardness, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were analyzed during winter (November–January), summer (March–June) and monsoon (July–September) season from November 2016 to September 2017 along with heavy metal analysis of water and sediment samples of the winter season. The levels of Cr, Cu, Cd and Pb were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Water quality was evaluated by water quality index (WQI) using BIS and WHO standards. The WQI values showed good water quality at Haridwar site (< 100) while it was very poor at other sites and Kanpur (> 100) which renders it highly unfit for human consumption and survival of some fish species because of low DO value (4.65 ± 1.08 mg L
−1
) and high values of pH (8.82 ± 0.10), alkalinity (187.88 ± 8.88 mg L
−1
), BOD (66.64 ± 2.19 mg L
−1
) and COD (240.00 ± 17.33 mg L
−1
). WQI showed highly unsuitable water quality at all sites except control site, of which S9 (Siddhanath Ghat) was highly polluted. Lead concentration was higher at Kannauj sites while high Cr was observed at Siddhanath Ghat (S9), Kanpur. The examined metals, such as Cr, Cu, and Pb, were far above the prescribed limits of various standards.