9-Water quality of small Jabalpur Lakes - A case study

Abstract

This paper presents the study of water quality cycle of small lakes (or tanks) of Jabalpur region in Madhya Pradesh (India) and consequent pollution hazards. These tanks were initially in use for meeting various human demands. However, the encroachment due to urban and industrial growth led to their diminishing. Some vanished completely and the ones sustained became the dumping sites for city waste in recent times. An analysis of surface water quality of the above tanks shows significant changes in its both physical and chemical parameters. Yet, the observed cyclic recovery indicates (i) absorption of the impurity fraction by the lithologic formation below; or (ii) removal of the excessive impurity fraction from water by chemical reactions and/or conversions, but changing the overall chemistry of the system; and/or (iii) transport of the excessive fraction to adjacent groundwater regime. The tract of small lakes along the structural contact between the Granites and the Gondwana shales/clays associated with the wells shows relatively high concentration of the Fluoride and Iron ions. The DRASTIC analysis for pollution potentiality of groundwater due to polluted water bodies leads to characterization of whole surface-subsurface water continuum to be highly prone to induced pollution in future.