Water quality indices in chiplun town

Chiplun is a rapidly developing town having average annual rainfall of about 3500 mm, with Vashishthi River as the only primary source of water. Because of a typical valley and hilly geographical location, the town is facing the problem of improper and inadequate drainage, leading to contamination of drinking water resources. Hence, eleven spots (A to K) in Chiplun town were selected for monthly collection of water samples during February 2003 to January 2004. The physico-chemical parameters viz. pH, Turbidity, Electrical conductivity, TDS, Total Hardness, BOD, COD, Total Alkalinity, Nitrate and Calcium were estimated by standard methods and used for calculation of Water Quality Indices. The water quality index (WQI) at spot ‘C’ was 50.2458 while at all the remaining spots it was between 30.2064 and 49.0535. Hence the status of water at all the spots was good except spot ‘C’, where water quality was poor.