Assessment of the Deterioration in Physiochemical and Microbiological Quality of Shivnath River Water in Durg District, India

Abstract

The water samples collected from Shivnath river in Durg Dist., India, were analyzed for physical properties like color, temperature, turbidity and odor, chemical properties like pH, alkalinity, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, total solids {Total dissolved solids (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS)}, sulphates, nitrates were analyzed. Microbiological characteristics like detection of coliforms, quantitative analysis and most probable number (MPN) of coliforms was also performed. Incidences of Escherichia coli 0157 (Thermo tolerant strain) and Salmonella species were analyzed. All stated properties were analyzed for both upstream and downstream sampling points to determine the effect of residential and industrial discharges on the quality of river water. The addition of discharges has shown many fold increase in all the analyzed physiochemical parameters. The MPN/100 mL for upstream sample was 900 and down stream sample showed rises up to 1600. The heterotrophic plate count (HPC) also increased from 1.30×10⁴/100 mL to 1.53×10⁴/100 mL. Incidences of E.coli 0157 (Thermo tolerant strain) and Salmonella species were both found even before the addition of discharges.