Assessment of water quality in the river gomati at Jaunpur (U.P.), India.

Abstract

The river Gomati is popularly known as "Aadi-Ganga". Gomati River is an important tributary of river Ganga and perennial river of Awadh plains. The river Gomati originates from Gomat Taal near Madhoganj Tanda village in Pilibhit district (U.P.), run across the major part of U.P. covering nine districts of Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpurkheri, Hardoi, Sitapur, Lucknow, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Jaunpur and ultimately merges in Ganga river, near Saidpur Kaithi in Varanasi. The world is facing problems with a wide variety of pollutants both inorganic and organic in nature. Healthy soil, clean water and air are the soul of life. Often soil, water and air are no longer clean and pure, but pose human health risks. The river Gomati receives huge quantities of untreated sewage agricultural runoff, brings a lot of pesticides, fertilizer, street washouts bringing oil, asphalt, sediment and many types of heavy metals. From industrial effluents to domestic discharge, the river becomes more of a flowing dumping yard. The physico-chemical parameters in water of river Gomati were assessed to know about the water quality in its catchment area. Total of four sampling sites were selected between Gokul ghat upstream and Ramghat downstream. Physico-chemical parameters like pH, Temperature, Total dissolved solid (TDS), Total suspended solid (TSS), Hardness, Dissolved oxygen (DO), Nitrate, Nitrite, Chloride, Total Coliforms and some heavy metals were determined. Changes in water quality of river Gomati due to variations in quantity of parameters were found. Heavy metals mainly Copper, Iron, Zinc, Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium and Nickel were noticed.