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Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga Canal water quality

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Article  in  Environment Development and Sustainability · December 2015

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-015-9735-x

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Assessment of physicochemical
characteristics of Ganga Canal water
quality in Uttarakhand

Gagan Matta, Sachin Srivastava,

R. R. Pandey & K. K. Saini

Environment, Development and

Sustainability
A Multidisciplinary Approach to the
Theory and Practice of Sustainable
Development

ISSN 1387-585X
Volume 19
Number 2

Environ Dev Sustain (2017) 19:419-431

DOI 10.1007/s10668-015-9735-x

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 Author's personal copy
Environ Dev Sustain (2017) 19:419–431
DOI 10.1007/s10668-015-9735-x

Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga

Canal water quality in Uttarakhand

Gagan Matta1 • Sachin Srivastava2 • R. R. Pandey3 •

K. K. Saini4

Received: 27 September 2014 / Accepted: 16 November 2015 / Published online: 6 December 2015
 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Abstract Assessment of physicochemical parameters of Ganga Canal water was carried

out during 2012–2013 at Haridwar (Uttarakhand) with two different sites, i.e., Bhimgoda
Barrage (site 1—control site) and Bahadrabad (site 2—contaminated site), where canal
water flows with loads of pollution from highly commercial and industrial areas. During
investigation, maximum turbidity (287.72 ± 56.28 JTU), total solids (1167.60 ±
303.90 mg l-1), free CO2 (1.88 ± 0.22 mg l-1), total hardness (60.14 ± 1.13 mg l-1),
pH (7.1 ± 0.13), nitrate (0.048 ± 0.010), nitrite (0.019 ± 0.001), biochemical oxygen
demand (2.866 ± 1.098), chemical oxygen demand (6.8 ± 2.61) and phosphate
(0.087 ± 0.015), while minimum velocity (1.71 ± 0.19 ms-1), transparency (0.12 ±
0.08 m) and dissolved oxygen (7.95 ± 0.44 mg l-1) were recorded in monsoon season at
site 2 in comparison with site 1. The mean values of these parameters were compared with
WHO and ISI standards and found significant differences (p \ 0.05) in the mean values of
turbidity, total solids, pH, dissolved oxygen, free CO2 and total hardness with sampling
sites. The turbidity of both the sites 1 and 2 was recorded above the permissible limit.
Turbidity of site 2 is much higher than of site 1, so it is counted as more polluted. The
values of the studied parameters were more during monsoon season and summer season at
site 2 as compared to site 1. The results indicated that most of the physicochemical
parameters from Ganga Canal system were within or at periphery in comparison with
permissible limit of ISI and WHO for drinking water and therefore may be suitable for
domestic purposes, but it requires perceptible consideration due to intense changes in
climate and increase in pollution.

& Gagan Matta

drgaganmatta@hotmail.com
1
Department of Zoology and Environmental Science, Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar, India
2
Department of Environmental Science, Uttaranchal College of Science and Technology, Dehradun,
India
3
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
4
National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India

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Keywords Water quality  Ganga Canal  Haridwar  Physicochemical characteristics 

Uttarakhand

1 Introduction

Pollution is one of the biggest problems of water quality degradation in the River Ganga and
its tributaries increasing from year to year due to the increase in pollutant loads particularly
from commercial and domestic sources, sewage discharge and industrial effluent (Matta
2010, 2014a, b; Matta et. al. 2011). The trophic status of a water body depends on the locality
and its topography. Of all renewable resources of the planet, water has a unique place (Matta
2014a, b, Matta 2015; Khanna et al. 2012a, b; Matta et al. 2015). The River Ganga basin
spreads over an area of 861,404 km2 covering the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. There are
223 cities/towns (municipalities/corporations) generating significant amount of sewage in
the Ganga Basin (Kumar and Chopra 2012). Discharge of sewage and industrial effluents,
regular practice of washing of clothes and bathing in the river are very common not only in
River Ganga but in all the rivers of the country causing deterioration of ecology and water
quality. Availability of clean and potable water has become a key issue in several developing
countries. Burgeoning population and water scarcity are affecting the quality of life sig-
nificantly; India is no exception to this (Matta and Kumar 2015; Khanna et al. 2012a, b). The
importance of water for good quality/quantity crop growth is well known; it is one of the
prime requirements for agricultural practices about which farmers have always been con-
cerned. India is a land of farmers, and agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy (Chopra
et al. 2012). Before the existence of the canal systems, Indian farming systems were chiefly
dependent on the monsoon rains, which caused uncertainty for farmers. The spread of
agricultural settlements to less fertile and irrigated areas led to cooperation in irrigation
advances and the materialization of irrigation works in the form of reservoirs and canals.
The present study deals with the Ganga Canal of the River Ganga in Haridwar. Ganga
Canal comes into life in Hardwar from River Ganga, located at latitude 29570 N and
longitude 78100 E. This canal system irrigates the Doab region lying between River Ganga
and River Yamuna in India. The canal is primarily an irrigation canal, although parts of it
were also used for navigation. Since constructed it has been greatly enlarged. With pre-
sently a capacity of 10,500 cusec and a main canal of 482.803 km with 6258.00 km of
distribution channels. The canal system irrigates nearly 9000 km2 of fertile agricultural
land in ten districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Monitoring of the water is an
essential step to understand the trends and pattern of pollutants and their effect on living
aquatic systems. The quality of natural water bodies impacts those using or living within
those water bodies (Singh et al. 2010).

2 Materials and method

2.1 Studied areas of River Ganga

The present study has been carried out in Haridwar to examine pollution status of Ganga
Canal, located in the newly created state of Uttarakhand. Water samples were taken from

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Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga Canal… 421

Fig. 1 Map showing the view of Bhimgoda Barrage (site 1—control site) and Bahadrabad (site 2)

two locations in Haridwar. The sampling locations are depicted in Fig. 1. Site 1 (Bhimgoda
Barrage) is the control site for the study. Bhimgoda Barrage (control site) (29570 26.6600 N–
78100 33.8400 E) is just 1 km from the world famous Hindu pilgrimage Har Ki Pauri. It is
the point where the Ganga Canal system originates. The primary purpose for the barrage is
irrigation, but it also serves to control floods. The area behind the barrage is known as the
Neel Dhara Bird Sanctuary and is a popular destination for various water birds and tourists.
Site 2 is at Bahadrabad (29540 36.3000 N–78010 58.4800 E), 500 meters from the barrage
toward Govindpur Road. Activities like discharge of sewage, bathing and cleaning are very
common here. At this point, water flows after crossing the various point and non-point
pollution sources from Haridwar city and its outer areas. This site is at a distance of
17.5 km from Bhimgoda Barrage, a place few meters before the barrage (this barrage feed
water to a power plant situated in Bahadrabad) and because of this water flow at this
sampling site is slow relative to other sampling sites. Here, the floor of the canal is sandy
and the depth is low.

2.2 Sample collection procedure

Water samples were collected from the River Ganga at Haridwar during three different
seasons viz. winter, summer and monsoon for the period of 1 year from 2012 to October
2013. The samples were collected from different sites of all the rivers. Water samples were
collected from 0.5 m depth from the surface of the river using a clean plastic bucket,
transferred to clean plastic bottles and transported to the laboratory on ice and stored in a
deep freezer (-20 C) till analysis. Samples were collected in triplicate from each site, and
average value for each parameter was reported.

2.3 Analytical methods

The physicochemical parameters like pH, temperature, dissolve oxygen (DO), trans-
parency, velocity and free CO2 were fixed/recorded onsite. The other parameters such as
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate, nitrite,
phosphorus, turbidity, TS, and TH were analyzed in laboratory after samples preservation

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422 G. Matta et al.

as per (Khanna et al. 2011) and American Public Health Association (APHA 2005)
guidelines. The colorimetric analyses were done with UV spectrophotometer Cary 60.
The statistical analysis was carried out using Minitab 16 to identify the correlation
between selected water quality parameters.

3 Results and discussion

Assessment of physicochemical characteristics at the Bhimgoda Barrage control site 1 and

Bahadrabad sampling sites 2 is appended in Table 1 and Figs. 2, 3. Observations and
analysis clearly show that water quality of Ganga Canal at site 2 was highly polluted
because of the incursion of sewage, industrial effluent, commercial and domestic waste as
compared to site 1.
The most common physical assessment of water quality is the measurement of tem-
perature. Temperature impacts both the chemical and biological characteristics of surface
water. Temperature is known to influence the pH, alkalinity and DO concentration in the
water (Kumar et al. 2010). In the present study, the maximum temperature
(18.63 ± 0.63 C) of Ganga Canal was recorded at site 2 in summer season as compared to
site 1 (Fig. 2). Maximum values of temperature could be due to increasing rates of pol-
lution and wastewater discharged at site 2. Yadav and Srivastava (2011) reported water
temperature of River Ganga at Gazipur that ranged from a minimum of 17 ± 0.55 C at
site 1 in January 2006 to a maximum of 33.90 ± 0.58 C in the month of June 2006.
Seasonally, the values were highest in summer season followed by the rainy and winter
seasons.
Turbidity of any water sample is the reduction of transparency due to the presence of
particulate matter such as clay or slit, finely divided organic matter, plankton and other
microscopic organisms. Turbidity of water is an important parameter, which influences the
light penetration inside water and thus affects the aquatic life (Verma and Saksena 2010;
Tambekar et al. 2013). Turbidity measure of water clarity tells the degree to which light
entering a column of water is scattered by suspended solids. Suspended solids include
things such as mud, algae, detritus and fecal material (Singh et al. 2010). The present study
recorded maximum turbidity at site 2 (287.72 ± 56.28 JTU) in the monsoon season, while
minimum turbidity was observed in the winter season (Table 1). Chauhan and Singh
(2010) reported maximum turbidity of 510.07 JTU in the monsoon season (July 2007) at
site 1, and a minimum of 0.00 JTU was observed in the winter season (January 2008) at site
1. The turbidity value obtained at all selected sites at Rishikesh such as Lakshman Jhula,
Parmarth Niketan and Triveni Ghat was found to be above standard permissible limits of
WHO. This could be attributed due to the presence of organic matter pollution, runoff and
heavy rainfall.
Transparency is a measure of how clear the water is. It is important, because aquatic
plants need sunlight for photosynthesis. The clearer the water, the deeper sunlight will
penetrate. Transparency has direct bearing on the light penetration of water and depends
upon suspended matter and dissolved colored substances (Verma and Saksena 2010). In the
present study, the lowest value of transparency was recorded (0.12 ± 0.08 m) at site 2 in
the monsoon season. The lower transparency at site 2 is due to higher pollution load. The
higher values were exhibited during winter and summer months, whereas lower values
were found in the monsoon season (Fig. 3). Sharma et al. (2012) reported highest values of
47 cm at bathing ghat of Sapt rishi during IIIrd Royal Bath, while the lowest value of

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 Table 1 Physicochemical parameters of Ganga Canal water at site 1 (Bhimgoda Barrage) and site 2 (Bahadrabad), Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Seasons Turbidity (JTU) TS (mg l-1) pH DO (mg l-1) FCO2 (mg l-1) TH (mg l-1)

Physicochemical parameters of Bhimgoda Barrage (site 1—control Site)

Winter 22.68 ± 21.48 52.72 ± 12.31 7.6 ± 0.17 10.54 ± 0.61 1.04 ± 0.036 60.89 ± 3.58
Summer 42.39 ± 32.49 193.52 ± 77.19 7.9 ± 0.17 9.82 ± 0.72 1.12 ± 0.08 64.78 ± 5.43
Monsoon 194.36 ± 62.69 597.31 ± 282.53 7.6 ± 0.16 8.48 ± 0.51 1.34 ± 0.160 46.82 ± 3.25
Physicochemical parameters of Bahadrabad (site 2)
Winter 41.39 ± 60.49 134.56 ± 63.00 8.0 ± 0.192 10.35 ± 1.09 1.19 ± 0.39 70.61 ± 5.38
Summer 52.66 ± 42.59 200.04 ± 44.62 6.9 ± 0.153 8.87 ± 0.92 1.23 ± 0.10 79.31 ± 4.08
Monsoon 287.72 ± 56.28 1167.60 ± 303.90 7.1 ± 0.13 7.95 ± 0.44 1.88 ± 0.22 60.14 ± 1.13
IS 10 – 6.0–9.0 3 – 300
WHO 05 – 6.5–9.2 6 0.5–2.0 500
ICMR 05 – 7–8.5 4 – 600
-1 -1 -1 -1
Seasons Nitrate (mg l ) Nitrite (mg l ) BOD (mg l ) COD (mg l ) PO4 (mg l-1)

Physicochemical parameters of Bhimgoda Barrage (site 1—control Site)

Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga Canal…

Winter 0.029 ± 0.00 0.009 ± 0.00 2.198 ± 0.24 4.604 ± 0.961 0.051 ± 0.006
Summer 0.039 ± 0.008 0.013 ± 0.001 2.156 ± 1.116 6.244 ± 2.981 0.06 ± 0.004
Author's personal copy

Monsoon 0.038 ± 0.003 0.009 ± 0.000 2.676 ± 1.082 6.351 ± 2.406 0.048 ± 0.003
Physicochemical parameters of Bahadrabad (site 2)
Winter 0.025 ± 0.005 0.011 ± 0.001 2.298 ± 0.24 4.604 ± 0.963 0.14 ± 0.016
Summer 0.048 ± 0.010 0.019 ± 0.001 2.19 ± 1.118 5.781 ± 2.759 0.087 ± 0.015
Monsoon 0.047 ± 0.005 0.012 ± 0.001 2.866 ± 1.098 6.8 ± 2.61 0.069 ± 0.007
IS 45 3 – – –
WHO 45 45 06 10 0.1
ICMR 50 – – – –
423

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Fig. 2 Matrix plot of temperature, transparency versus velocity in Ganga Canal at site 1 (control Site)

Fig. 3 Matrix plot of temperature, transparency versus velocity in Ganga Canal at site 2

14 cm was found at the bathing ghat of Prem Nagar during IVth Royal Bath at Haridwar.
Bhadula et al. (2014) reported overall lowest and highest mean value of transparency of 1.0
and 45.7 cm in the months of August and January at site 2 and site 1, respectively, in the
Sahastradhara stream . A relative comparison in transparency showed significant variation
in water quality. The maximum transparency was found at site 1 during the month of
January, but at site 2, transparency was relatively low due to touristic activities.
Velocity was found to be directly proportional to the flood level and also with the
gradient of the river stretch. The water level and its velocity started increasing from the
winter season onwards, due to melting of snow at the place of origin of the river. Flow can
affect the river’s ability to assimilate pollutants; larger, swiftly moving streams and rivers
can receive pollutants with a diminished negative effect. Smaller rivers with low flow have
less of a capacity to dilute and degrade potentially harmful pollutants (Environmental

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Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga Canal… 425

Protection Agency 2012). During the present study, the maximum mean velocity of water
in Ganga Canal at site 2 was recorded to be (1.71 ± 0.19 ms-1) in the monsoon season.
Maximum velocity of water in Ganga Canal was observed in the monsoon season at both
sites, but lower velocity was observed at site 2 (Fig. 3). This could be due to climatic
conditions in which the water level and velocity start to increase from the winter season
onwards due to melting of snow at the place of origin of the river. Joshi et al. (2009a, b)
also reported maximum velocity of 2.18 ms-1 of the Ganga at Haridwar in the monsoon
season and the minimum velocity of 0.39 ms-1 in the winter season.
Total solids (TS) mean the total amount total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved
solids (TDS) in a particular sample. The TS are composed of carbonates, bicarbonates,
chlorides, phosphates, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, manganese, organic
matter, salts and other particles. The presence of TS is due to silt and organic matter
(Weldemarianm 2013). In the present study, maximum TS (1167.60 ± 303.90 mg l-1)
was recorded at site 2 in the monsoon season (Table 1). Higher values of TS in the
monsoon season at site 2 reflect more pollution due to discharge of whole city sewage at
this site. Shirin and Yadav 2014 observed maximum TS (336.86 ± 149.53 mg l-1) in
water quality of Ganga Canal water at Haridwar in the monsoon season compared to the
summer and winter seasons. Bhutiani et al. (2014) also reported maximum concentration
(650.60 ± 85.12 mg l-1) of TS in Ganga Canal at Haridwar.
pH is considered an important chemical parameter that determines the suitability of
water for various purposes. pH of water is important for biotic communities because most
of the aquatic organism is adapted to pH level of around 0–14. The optimal pH range for
sustainable aquatic life is pH 6.5–8.2. pH of an aquatic system is an important indicator of
the water quality and the extent of pollution in the watershed areas (Kumar et al. 2011;
Singh 2014). There was not much fluctuation recorded in pH values (Table 1) by the
present study. However, the overall highest values of pH were observed (8.1 ± 0.19) at
site 2. Higher pH was recorded in the summer seasons than in the winter and rainy seasons.
Higher value of pH in the summer season may be due to influx of sewage, effluents
disposal and low water level. Pandey et al. 2014 recorded pH varying from 8.3 to 8.48 in
the summer, 8.22–8.42 during the monsoon and 8.12–8.22 in the winter during the study
period at River Ganga at Allahabad. The increasing pH appears to be associated with
increasing use of wastewater in industrial areas.
Dissolved oxygen is one of the important parameters in water quality assessment. Its
presence is essential to maintain diversity of all forms of life in the water and the
effect of waste discharge in a water body are largely determined by the oxygen balance
of the system. It can be rapidly removed from the wastewaters by discharge of the
oxygen demanding waste. Inorganic reducing agents such as H2S, ammonia, nitrite,
ferrous iron and certain oxidizable substances also tend to decrease dissolved oxygen in
the water (Srivastava et al. 2011; Singh et al. 2012). Dissolved oxygen data are
valuable in determining the water quality criteria of an aquatic system. In the system
where the rates of respiration and organic decomposition are high, the DO values
usually remain lower than those of the systems where the rate of photosynthesis is
high. Temperature also plays an important role in determining DO in an aquatic body
(Khanna et al. 2012a, b).
In the present study, DO levels went down during the summer season compared to
winter and monsoon months, which may be due to higher temperature, oxygen demanding
wastes, inorganic reductant and seasonal variation. Low BOD was mainly due to higher
algal productivity, along with increased solubility of oxygen at low temperatures, while
maximum resulted from the rapid utilization of oxygen at higher temperatures (Chetana

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and Somasekhar 1997). Direct discharge of untreated domestic waste into the river was
responsible for the high organic pollution and led to very high BOD and COD values at the
upstream sites, which were gradually reduced at the downstream sites. In the present study,
the overall lowest and highest value of dissolved oxygen was observed (7.95 ±
0.44 mg l-1) at site 2 and (10.54 ± 0.61) at site 1. The lowest value of DO at site 2
indicates load of pollution in comparison with site 1 (Table 1). The BOD and COD
maximum values are recorded at site 2 with BOD (2.866 ± 1.098) and COD (6.8 ± 2.61)
showing the increase in pollution load in comparison with site 1. Chauhan and Singh
(2010) reported that Ganga water contained the highest dissolved oxygen during winter
season, followed by a gradual decrease to its lowest values during monsoon season. The
higher concentrations of DO were recorded during winter season mainly due to low tur-
bidity and increased photosynthetic activity of the green algae found on the submerged
stones and pebbles. The maximum 12.10 mg l-1 oxygen content of water was recorded in
winter season (January 2007) and minimum 7.14 mg l-1 during monsoon season (July
2008).
Carbon dioxide is vital for the life of plants and microorganisms. It is produced due to
respiration of aquatic organisms. Maximum free CO2 in the present study was recorded
(1.88 ± 0.22 mg l-1) at site 2. The lower values of free CO2 were observed in the winter
season, and higher values were recorded in summer and monsoon season at site 2
(Table 1). The increase in carbon dioxide levels during these months may be due to decay
and decomposition of organic matter due the addition of large amount of sewage, which
was the main causal factor for increase in carbon dioxide in the water bodies. Singh (2014)
reported free CO2 varied from 39.3 to 61.7 mg l-1 in summer, monsoon and winter season
at different sites. The lowest values (39.3 mg l-1) of free CO2 was recorded in winter
season, whereas the highest values (61.7 mg l-1) in summer season.
The hardness of water is not a pollution indicator parameter but indicates water quality
mainly in terms of Ca2? and Mg2?, bicarbonate, sulfates, chloride, and nitrates. Water with
less than 75 mg-1 of CaCO3 is considered soft, and above 75 mg-1 of CaCO3 as hard
(Kumar et al. 2010; Singh and Choudhary 2013). In the present study, maximum TH
(79.31 ± 4.08 mg l-1) was recorded in monsoon season at site 2 in comparison with site 1
(Table 1). This was in accordance with the results of Singh and Chaudhary (2013) who
reported that seasonal behaviors of TH were more or less similar at all the sites. It was
lowest at site 1 (90 ppm) in summer season and even highest at site 1 (200 ppm) in winter
and monsoon of Ganga River water at Bhagalpur (Bihar), India, respectively. This was a
result of poor dilution owing to low precipitation rate.
Elevated levels of both nitrogen and phosphate are the main cause of poor water quality
and loss of aquatic habitats in the Ganga Basin. Wastewater discharges, including domestic
waste and sewage, effluents from commercial and industrial establishments and urban
runoff, combined with agricultural runoff and aquaculture waste which may also contain
fertilizers, are major threats in terms of nutrient pollution (Dubey et al. 2012). Nitrogen-
containing compounds act as nutrients in streams and rivers. Nitrate reactions in fresh
water can cause oxygen depletion. Thus, aquatic organisms depending on the supply of
oxygen in the stream will die. The major routes of entry of nitrogen into bodies of water are
municipal and industrial wastewater, septic tanks, feed lot discharges, animal wastes (in-
cluding birds and fish) and discharges from car exhausts. During the present study, the
nitrates were ranging between 0.035 ± 0.002 and 0.058 ± 0.006 mg-1, while the nitrites
between 0.007 ± 0.001 and 0.012 ± 0.001 mg-1. Nitrates and nitrites maximum values
are found at site 2 due to continued discharge of commercial and domestic sewage.
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphates compounds in water stimulate the growth of

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 Table 2 Correlation coefficients (r) of physicochemical parameters of Ganga Canal water at site 1 (Bhimgoda Barrage), Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Parameters Turbidity TS pH DO FCO2 TH Nitrate Nitrate BOD COD Phosphate

Turbidity 1.000
TS 0.989 1.000
pH -0.406 -0.269 1.000
DO -0.970 -0.995 0.171 1.000
FCO2 0.988 0.995 -0.260 -0.996 1.000
TH -0.952 -0.896 0.668 0.848 -0.893 1.000
Nitrate 0.512 0.632 0.577 -0.706 0.639 -0.223 1.000
Nitrite -0.406 -0.269 1.000 0.171 -0.260 0.668 0.577 1.000
Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga Canal…

BOD 0.931 0.868 -0.711 -0.815 0.864 -0.998 0.165 -0.711 1.000
Author's personal copy

COD 0.631 0.738 0.452 -0.802 0.744 -0.362 0.989 0.452 0.306 1.000
Phosphate -0.614 -0.492 0.971 0.403 -0.484 0.827 0.363 0.971 -0.859 0.224 1.000
427

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Table 3 Correlation coefficients (r) of physicochemical parameters of Ganga Canal water at Site 2 (Bahadrabad), Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India
Parameters Turbidity TS pH DO FCO2 TH Nitrate Nitrate BOD COD Phosphate

Turbidity 1.000
TS 1.000 1.000
pH -0.383 -0.397 1.000
DO -0.816 -0.825 0.847 1.000
FCO2 0.997 0.996 -0.393 -0.822 1.000
TH 0.872 -0.864 -0.118 0.429 -0.867 1.000
Nitrate 0.502 0.516 -0.991 -0.910 0.511 -0.015 1.000
Nitrite -0.360 -0.345 -0.724 -0.246 -0.349 0.770 0.626 1.000
BOD 0.976 0.973 -0.174 -0.671 0.974 -0.957 0.303 -0.553 1.000
Author's personal copy

COD 0.866 0.873 -0.794 -0.996 0.871 -0.510 0.868 0.156 0.737 1.000
Phosphate -0.725 -0.736 0.914 0.990 -0.732 0.295 -0.960 -0.382 -0.559 -0.972 1.000
G. Matta et al.
 Author's personal copy
Assessment of physicochemical characteristics of Ganga Canal… 429

algae and other photosynthetic aquatic life, which lead to accelerated eutrophication of
water bodies (Dubey et al. 2012). Use of detergent may increase the phosphate concen-
tration to great extent. The anthropogenic additions of phosphorus to the river have a
considerable effect on the quality of the water. Such phosphorus is derived mainly from
domestic sewage and the runoff from agricultural areas. The quantity of phosphorus in the
domestic sewage and land drainage has increased considerably in recent years due to the
increased use of synthetic detergents which contain inorganic condensed phosphates. The
river is used for the washing purposes, and the detergents enhance the load of this element.
A higher amount of phosphate represent high pollution loads and cause eutrophication of
the aquatic body (Usharani et al. 2010). During the study, the phosphorus content was also
recorded between 0.039 ± 0.019 and 0.141 ± 0.050 mg-1 with maximum at site 2.
Statistical analysis has been carried out by Pearson’s correlation coefficient between
different pairs of water quality parameters of River Ganga to develop the significant
correlation among the parameters (Bhandari and Nayal 2008; Joshi et al. 2009a, b). Values
of coefficient correlation were determined using Minitab software version 16 in all the
seasons. In the present study, the correlation coefficient (r) between every parameter for
site 1 and site 2 is shown in Tables 2 and 3 in the form of a correlation matrix. The
correlation coefficient (r) between any two parameters x and y is calculated for parameter
such as pH, turbidity, TH, DO, free CO2 and TS for the Ganga Canal water. The turbidity
in the Ganga Canal water was found to show positive correlations with TS and free CO2,
while TS is positively correlated with free CO2 at both sites. pH showed positive corre-
lations with DO/TH at site 1 and only with DO at site 2. DO showed positive correlation
with TH at both the sites. There is a strong positive correlation (r = 0.989/1.000) between
turbidity/TS, and (r = 0.995/0.996) between TS/FCO2 at both the sites. There was also a
significant (p \ 0.05) positive correlation (r = 0.848) between DO and TH at site 1 and
(r = 0.847) between pH and DO at site 2. Strong negative correlation was observed
(r = -0.970/0.952) and (r = -0.816/0.872) between turbidity and DO/TH at both the
sites. In addition, strong negative correlation was found (r = -0.815/-0.802) and
(r = -0.174/-0.794) between DO and BOD/COD at both the sites. Negative and positive
correlation between the parameters shows seasonal changes in water quality of Ganga
Canal.

4 Conclusion

Clean, safe and adequate freshwater is vital to survival of all living organisms and the
smooth functioning of ecosystems, communities and economies. Declining water quality
has become a global issue of concern as human population grows, industrial and agri-
cultural activities expand and climate change threatens to cause major alterations to the
hydrological cycle. Both natural process and man-made activities influence the surface as
well as ground water quality. A large number of factors and conditions directly and
indirectly influence the pollution status and physical-chemical parameters of water samples
of Ganga Canal. All the physicochemical parameters of Ganga Canal water at Haridwar for
the winter, summer and monsoon seasons for the year 2012–2013 are within the maximum
permissible limit prescribed by WHO, ICMR and IS, except turbidity, which was found to
be above the permissible limit. From the results of the present study, we conclude that the
Ganga water of Haridwar is, though fit for drinking purposes, yet in need of treatment to
minimize contamination, especially turbidity and TS. Moreover, high turbidity and TS can

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430 G. Matta et al.

significantly reduce the aesthetic quality of water in the Ganga Canal, having harmful
impacts on recreation and tourism. It can also harm fish and other aquatic life by reducing
food supplies, degrading spawning beds and affecting gill function. To minimize the
contaminations of water in Ganga Canal at Haridwar, the correlations between different
physicochemical parameters and their significance level will help in selecting the proper
methods for treatment of water to reduce pollution levels. During the study of River Ganga
in Haridwar, it is clear that due to a large number of human activities the river, water
quality is deteriorating. Not only the domestic and commercial but in last decade industrial
setups have also increased in areas near to water body in this region, increasing the load of
pollutants in the canal. To safeguard the water quality, we need to focus on the following
issues:
• Prevention of pollution by treatment of polluted water;
• Better understanding of water quality and its impacts through improved monitoring,
data collection and analysis and scenario building
• Social awareness and education regarding conservation of water
• Improved legal, institutional arrangements, technology and infrastructure.
The above-mentioned steps are mandatory to conserve and safeguard the water quality
in the River Ganga basin for which the current study analyzed the monitoring steps and the
data analysis standards required for scenario building. To maintain the Ganga Canal water
at its quality and purity levels, more studies like the present one are needed to increase
awareness and provide evidence for policy and decision making.

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