A Study on the Classification of Water Quality, Pazhayar River Basin, Kanyakumari District, Through Aggregation of Water Quality Index

摘要

The river Pazhayar originating from the slopes of Mahendragiri hills at an altitude of 800 m above M.S.L., flows towards south-western direction through Mahendragiri Estate, Palkulam, Bhuttapandi, Thazhikudi, Nagercoil town, Suchindram, etc., and joins the Arabian Sea near Manakudi. The basin contains number of water storage tanks/bunds. The catchment area of the river is 397 km2. The total length of the river is 40 km. There is one CWC Hydrological Observation Station at Ashramam on this river. The early kings also constructed about 11 check-dams along the course of the river. A Venad ruler, Boothala Sree Veera Udaya Marthandavarma, who ruled this area in 1517, constructed the Veerapuli dam and its canals. But, unfortunately, the dam was destroyed by a flood 40 years ago. Another major problem faced by the Pazhayar is pollution. Though the river water is free from pollution from Surulacode to Putheri, the stretch from Putheri to Suchindrum is highly polluted. Sewage from Putheri and Nagercoil also flows into the river. The sewage (household sewage, solid waste and liquid waste from hospitals) from Putheri area drain into the river at Putheri and sewage from Nagercoil is let into the river between Vadaserry - Ozhuginaserry - Edalakudi. A study was undertaken during the month of June 2015 to November 2015 (south west and north east monsoon period) and evaluates the water quality of Pazhyar river. The study involves the physical and chemical and analysis, like turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, total alkalinity (TALK), total hardness (TH), Ca, Mg, Na, K. Fe, Mn, Cl, F, NH_3 ,NO_2, NO_3, BOD and DO of river. The results of the present study have been compared with the permissible standards prescribed by the standards, such as BIS, CES, CPHEEO, ICMR and WHO. The average value of the water quality index for Pazhayar river was 49.01 (during monsoon period) indicating that this river is under moderate pollution of water quality rating. Based on this report, appropriate steps to be taken to control the pollution in this river.