IJREAS
Volume 1, Issue 4 (December 2011)
ISSN: 2294-3905
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF YAMUNA WATER AT
MATHURA
Suman Yadav* (Research Scholar)
Dr. Ajay Kumar Rajawat
ABSTRACT
Physico-chemical Properties of water of Yamuna River at Mathura, (UP) were
studied. The time period of study was July 2009 to June 2010. Three sampling
stations were selected for study. The parameters studied were Temperature,
Turbidity, pH, DO, BOD, COD, Total Dissolved Solids and Suspended Solids.
Almost all the parameters were found above the tolerance limit.
Keywords: Pollution, Pollutants, D.O., B.O.D., C.O.D., Turbidity, Effluents, TDS,
TSS.
*Dept. of Chemistry, CMJ University, Shillong, Meghalaya
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IJREAS
Volume 1, Issue 4 (December 2011)
ISSN: 2294-3905
INTRODUCTION
Pollution is one of the most challenging problems today. The unwanted substances
are being regularly added to our environment, making it unsafe to live. Population
growth, r apid e conomic de velopment, i ndustrialisation a nd un conscious hum an
activities a re s lowly tr ansforming o ur planet into a r otten p lace. T he b alance of
nature h as b een so a dversely a ffected t hat w e ar e f acing w ith, f requent f loods i n
some areas and severe draught in the others.
Mathura (U.P.) is considered to be a historical and holy place, being the birth-place
of L ord Krishna, m illions of pi lgrims f rom e very corner vi sit Mathura every year
and use to take bath in the holy river Yamuna. Their stay in the city causes a severe
sewage a nd garbage disposal pr oblem. T he sew age a long w ith t he g arbage i s
disposed off either directly or indirectly into the river Yamuna through a number of
wide drains and results in heavy water pollution.
Furthermore, Mat hura i s a f ast d eveloping c ity. A n umber o f sm all a nd l arge
industries a re w orking he re, w hich us e ve ry f ast, ha rmful a nd no n-biodegradable
chemicals like sulphuric ac id, silica powder, h ydrochloric ac id, d etergents
including a lkyl be nzene s ulphonate a nd l inear a lkyl s ulphonate and s everal dye s
containing c yanides, a rsenic, c admium, m ercury a nd l ed compounds. T heir
menacing e ffects ha ve b een m anifested i n the f orm o f t he d eath of t housands of
aquatic organisms.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The s ampling w as do ne i n second w eek of each m onth i n gl ass bot tles w ith
capacity 300 ml. The physico-chemical parameters of the water were determined on
the s pots, w ith the he lp of ‘ Portable w ater de tection ki t’ ( Model no. C K-710,
manufactured by ‘ Century I nstruments P vt. L td., C handigarh). T he t emperature
was measured on the spot by using temperature sensitive electrodes of the portable
water d etection ki t. O ther phys ico-chemical p arameters f rom sam ples w ere
determined in the l aboratory using t he method suggested by APHA ( 1985) a nd
NEERI m anual ( 1986). T he results w ere c ompared w ith s tandard permitting
parameters as suggested by WHO and ISI. For digestional and pre concentration of
water sa mples, st andard methods were f ollowed ( Chakraborty et.al. 1987 and
Subramaniam 1987).
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Temperature –
Temperature is an important physical factor which control the natural processes of
the e nvironment. I t was o bserved i n accordance w ith t he seasonal c hanges. I t
ranged be tween 16. 5–35.9 oC. I t w as hi gher i n M ay, J une a nd J uly a nd l ower
during winter months i.e. December and January.
Turbidity –
Turbidity i s ge nerally c aused by unt reated a nd unde composed organic m atter,
sewage a nd industrial w aste. I t w as ve ry high i n J uly and August be cause of t he
‘Janmashtami’ and Shravan Maas’ when t here i s a mass g athering in the city and
millions of peoples take bath in Yamuna river. It was noted minimum 64 NTU and
maximum 131 NTU.
pH –
pH sh ows t he a cidic or al kaline n ature o f water. T he w ater o f r iver Y amuna w as
found s lightly a lkaline. I t r anged be tween 7.1 – 8.6. I t s howed s imilar t rend w ith
Mathur e t.al. ( 1987), Dakshini e t.al ( 1979), K umar and S harma (2005) a nd Singh
et. al (1988).
TABLE -1 PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF RIVER YAMUNA FROM JULY 2009 TO JUNE 2010
(Average value of three sites)
Rains
Parameters
Winters
Summers
Units
Jul
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
30.8 30.4 23.4
22.7
22.4
19.1
16.5 21.1 23.9
NTU
121
125
99
111
83
104
64
87
…
7.1
7.2
7.6
8.4
8.5
7.9
8.6
D.O.
Mg/lit.
2.2
2.4
4.7
6.6
3.9
9.8
B.O.D.
Mg/lit. 35.1 34.2
7.8
8.9
17.6
C.O.D.
Mg/lit. 44.1 22.5 15.3
19.4
T.D.S.
Mg/lit.
501
421
412
T.S.S.
Mg/lit.
419
387
412
Temperature
Turbidity
pH
oC
Aug
Feb
Mar Apr May Jun
28.0
33.4
35.9
81
79
89
131
7.7
7.6
8.5
8.4
7.5
8.7
4.6
11.8
6.5
2.8
1.8
5.8
5.4
19.8 12.0
22.1
44.8
47.0
32.1
17.9
12.3 33.5 17.2
59.4
44.4
60.5
506
622
455
413
512
648
605
606
698
401
446
521
346
421
458
401
502
512
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ISSN: 2294-3905
Dissolved Oxygen :Dissolved oxyge n i s e ssential f or t he de composition of c hemical w aste a nd de ad
organic matter. It show variable trend. It was maximum in winter but lower in
summer. It ranged between 1.8 -11.8 mg/l. (Kumar & Sharma, 2004).
BOD :BOD i s t he a mount of oxy gen required by l iving a quatic or ganisms f or t heir
physiological process. It was found very high in summer and comparatively low in
winter. I t r anged be tween 5. 4-47.0 mg /l. T he f indings w ere similar to th ose
observed by Kumar & Sharma (2005).
COD :It i s t he a mount of oxyge n r equired for t he de composition of c hemical w aste. A
high value of C OD s hows a hi gher a ccumulation of organic waste in t he pond. It
was found higher during summer (60.5 mg/l) and lower during winter (12.3 mg/l).
Which w as i n a ccordance w ith t he o bservations m ade b y S hankar et . al ( 1986),
Reddy et. al (1985) and Sangu et. al. (1983).
TDS :Total dissolved s olids also serve a s indicator of pol lution. T rend w as found t o be
highly f luctuating. I t ranged be tween 41 2 - 698 mg/l. ( Saxena et. a l. , 1993 a nd
Siddiqui et. al, 1994).
TSS :Total s uspended s olids w ere f ound ve ry f luctuating. T SS w ere hi gher i n s ummer
and lower in winter and ranged between 346 - 521 mg/l. The findings were similar
to t hose obs erved by Mathur et. a l ( 1987), Saxena et. a l ( 1991) and S hahji e t. a l
(1993).
Summary & Conclusion –
From the above observations it was concluded that Yamuna river is highly polluted
and t he us e of i ts p olluted w ater m ay c ause v arious d iseases. R emedial m easures
are required to sustain the good quality of water and also to save the life of people.
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