Assessment of Water Quality of Lakes for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes in Raipur City, Chhattisgarh, India

Abstract

Lake water is an important source for drinking, domestic and irrigation purposes in rural and urban India. The present study aims at evaluating the water quality of various lakes in Raipur city, Chhatisgarh. There existed 154 lakes in the city but it shrinked to 85 in number due to encroachment or drying up of lakes. Twenty seven prominent lakes are selected to study and evaluate the water quality for drinking and irrigation purposes. The water samples were collected and analysed for pH, Turbidity, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Alkalinity, Hardness, Sodium(Na+), Potassium(K+), Calcium(Ca2+), Magnesium(Mg2+), Bicarbonate(HCO3-), Sulphate (SO42-), Nitrate (NO3−),Phosphate(PO43-) Fluoride(F-), Chloride (Cl−), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Total Coliform (TC) and Fecal Coliform (FC). There are variations for pH (6.59-8.29), EC (382-2330μS/cm), Turbidity (1-232 NTU), TDS (244-1491 mg/L), Alkalinity (120-600 mg/L), Hardness (66-330mg/L), Na+(37-430 mg/L), K+ (8-253 mg/L), Ca2+ (9-90 mg/L), Mg2+(3-26 mg/L), SO42- (5-200 mg/L), NO3-(0-19 mg/L), PO43-(0.19-5.3 mg/L), F-(0.18-1.41 mg/L) and Cl- (46-388 mg/L), DO(1-8.6 mg/L), BOD (0.1-11.3 mg/L), COD (8-118 mg/L), Total Coliform( 15-3600 MPN/100ml) and Fecal Coliform (4-240 MPN/100 ml). The results have been compared with the drinking water standard prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS). All the physiochemical parameters are within the prescribed limit except turbidity, fecal & total coliform. The Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) and salinity hazards are studied to classify the water for irrigation uses. It is found that lake water is suitable for irrigation purposes.