49-Phosphorous modelling of Renuka lake using statistical technique

Abstract

The Renuka lake is a very important tourist & religious place of the HP. The National Wetland Management Committee of the Ministry of Environment & Forests (Govt. of India) has given recognition of the Renuka lake as one of important wetlands of the country, which requires conservation and management on priority basis (State Council for Science, Technology & Environment, Govt. of HP). The Major Problems in the Renuka lake are reported as soil erosion, siltation of the lake, eutrophication and enrichment of pollutants from catchment. Phosphorous is the limiting nutrient responsible for eutrophication of the lake. In the present study, the statistical technique based on best subset procedure (R2 and F values) is used in model dissemination for predicting the phosphorous concentration. Regression models are developed in explaining variation in phosphorous concentration using routinely measured parameters. The predicted values of phosphorous are compared with observed values and reasonably good matching is obtained. The result indicates that the developed model may be used for prediction of missing observed value of phosphorous concentration and thereby the status of the eutrophication of the lake.