ESSENCE - International Journal for Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation

Kamboj et al./Vol. VII [2] 2016/46 - 52

Volume VII: No. 2 2016 [46 – 52] [ISSN 0975 - 6272]
[www.essence-journal.com]

A comparative study of physico-chemical and bacteriological parameters of

three different ritual bathing ghats of Ganga River in India

Kamboj, Nitin; Bharti, Manisha; Kamboj, Vishal; Rani, Anchal and Sharma, Shalini

Received: July 11, 2016  Accepted: October 20, 2016  Online: December 31, 2016

Abstract

In the present research paper a study was
carried out to compare the Ganga River water
quality by collecting samples from four
different ritual bathing Ghats of Ganga river
viz. site 1 Goa Beach, Rishikesh (control
Site), Sites 2 Swarg Ashram Ghat, Rishikesh,
Sites 3 Hari ki Pauri Ghat, Haridwar, Sites 4
Shukratal Ghat, Shukratal during the
October, 2016. Water samples were collected
from four different ritual bathing Ghats to
analyze the physico-chemical and
bacteriological characteristics. In total, 12
parameters were studied and readings were
taken using the standard protocols.
According to the analysis it revealed that the
variations in values were observed. The
samples from site 1 have pH value of 8.07
while the samples from site 2, site `3 and site
4 have the pH values of 8.01, 7.89, and 8.01
respectively.
Keywords: Physico-chemical Parameters |
Water quality | River Ganga | Rituals |
Uttarakhand
For Correspondence:
Department of Zoology and Environmental Science
Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar,
Uttarakhand, India
Email: kambojgurukul@gmail.com
Sample form Goa Beach Rishikesh cover the
highest DO value of 9.8 mg/L while the
Shukratal Ghat found the minimum DO value
of 4.45 mg/L samples from Swarg Ashram
Ghat and Hari ki Pauri Ghat have the DO
values of 9.5 and 8.9mg/L respectively.
Introduction
The river Ganges in India is the most holy
rivers of the world by Hindus from time
immemorial. Bhagirathi is the source stream
of Ganga. It originates from Gangotri Glacier
at Gaumukh at an elevation of 3,892 m
(12,770 feet). Many small streams included
the headwaters of Ganga. The important
among these are Alaknanda, Dhauliganga,
Pindar, Mandakini and Bhilangana. At
Devprayag, where Alaknanda joins
Bhagirathi, the river acquires the name
Ganga. It traverses a course of 2,525 km
before flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The
most ethnically significant hotspot of the
river is at Haridwar where according to
Hindu mythology it is said to have descended
from the heavens. The holy city of Haridwar
is located in the north Indian state of
Uttarakhand at a distance of 214 km from
Delhi at the foothills of Shivalik. The
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distance from Rishikesh to Haridwar is about
28.3 km. Haridwar extends from latitude 29º
58’ N in the north to longitude 78º 13’E in
the east. The city is situated at a height of
almost 300 m above sea level and the
temperature usually hovers around 40ºC
during summers. Winters see the mercury
dipping to as low as 6ºC. The river has been
the focus of national and international
intervention and study for past several
decades to identify and establish causes and
impact of anthropogenic activities on river
water quality. Ganga river basin, which was
comparatively free from anthropocentric
activities until the 1940s, became a disposal
site for agricultural, industrial and sewage
wastes after independence of India in 1947
(Singh, 2010). Ganga plain is one of the most
densely populated regions of the world, due
to its availability of water, fertile soil and
suitable landscape. Presence of Escherichia
coli in water can lead to dangerous health
problem for consumers (Choudhury et al.,
2014). Today, over 29 cities, 70 towns and
thousands of villages extend along the Ganga
banks. Nearly all of their sewage—over 1.3
billion liters per day—goes directly into the
river, along with thousands of animal
carcasses, mainly cattle (Bhardwaj et al.,
2010; Matta, Gagan, 2014a). Cultural and
religious tourism on the banks of the river
Ganga along with heavy influx of tourists has
been one of the reasons of deterioration in
water quality (Farooquee et al. 2008). Now a
day the Ganga water is polluted and not
suitable for drinking (Kamboj and Aswal,
2015; Kamboj et al., 2015; Matta, Gagan,
2014b; Matta, Gagan, 2015).
This study was conducted at three different
holy cities of Ganga which is situated on the
bank of river Ganga Rishikesh, Haridwar and
Shukratal. Haridwar is one of the important
tourism of Uttarakhand. It is situated on the
right bank of river Ganga and at the foot hills
of Shivalik ranges. It is located at 29°58' N of
latitude and 78°10' E of longitude. It is one of
the most ancient towns and a very important
pilgrim centre of India where people from all
over the country come round the year to have
a dip in the river Ganga on an average around
two lakh people visit this city daily. It is
closely inter woven with culture and tradition
and the health, and years the river has been
indiscriminately polluted. Every year in
month of shravan kanwar mela is organized
and during kanwar mela physico chemical
parameters are at their highest permissible
limit (Kamboj, 2012) Shukratal is also an
important historical place of district
Muzaffarnagar (U.P.), one of the most holy
destinations of northern India. This study was
undertaken to evaluate the dynamic changes
in water quality of River Ganga from
Rishikesh to Shukratal. Therefore the
objectives of present investigation are: i).
Study of physico- chemical properties of
Ganga water at three different ritual bathing
Ghats. ii). Analysis of the impact of tourism,
recreational and religious activities on Ganga
water.
Materials and Methods
The Ganga River was selected for the study
to know the water quality status of Ganga
River because it is related to spiritually
Hindu cultural pilgrims places and ritual
bathing Ghats has its own important. For the
study purpose four different sampling sites
including control site have been selected. The
description of all four sampling sites is given
below:
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Sampling Sites Name coordinates study the maximum pH was observed at site
Sites 1 (8.07) and minimum pH was observed at
Site -1 Goa Beach 30° 07’ 28.46’’ N, 78° 19’ site 3 (7.89). Kumar and Bhushan (2012)
Rishikesh 07.38’’ E
observed the value of pH range between 7.31
(control Site)
and 8.53 during their study of water quality
Sites 2 Swarg Ashram 30°07’ 19.92’’ N, 78° 18’
Ghat Rishikesh 52.06’’ E
of River Ganga at Shukratal.

Sites 3 Hari ki Pauri 29° 57’ 22.35’’ N, 78° 10’
Ghat Haridwar 15.68’’E
Sites 4 Shukratal Ghat 29° 29’ 27.95’’ N, 77° 59’
Shukratal 24.79’’E
Table 1: Study sites and their coordinates
Sampling and Analysis
The experimental method involved the
collection of grab samples in clean plastic
containers of 5 liter capacity from following
the different locations at three sampling
sites: a). Rishikesh b). Haridwar and c)
Shukratal during October in year 2016. The
physico-chemical and bacteriological
analysis of total 12 (pH, EC, TDS, Hardness,
D.O., B.O.D., Alkalinity, Available
phosphorus, Sodium, Potassium, TC and FC)
parameters were done using standard
methods (APHA, 2012 and Trivedy and
Goel, 1996) and microbiological analysis
was done using Dubey and Maheshwari,
2002.
Result and Discussion
The results obtained from analysis of water
samples of river Ganga shown in table-1. The
reported value refers to the mean values of
water samples collected from different
bathing ghats at different areas along the
stretch of river Ganga. The findings indicated
that the quality of river Ganga varies
considerably from Rishikesh to Shukratal. A
summary of the results is given below:
pH: The pH indicates the acidic or alkalinity
material present in the water. In the present
Conductivity: The salt concentration is
generally measured by determining the
Electrical Conductivity of water. Excess salt
increase the osmotic pressure of the soil
solutions that can result in physiological
drought conditions. In the present study the
maximum Electrical Conductivity was
observed maximum at site 1 (290.1 µS/cm)
and the minimum was observed at site 4
(258.0 µS/cm).
TDS: The higher TDS causes gastro-
intestinal irritation to the human beings, but
the prolonged intake of water with higher
TDS can cause kidney stone and heart
disease. The presence of high value of TDS
may be due to the influence of anthropogenic
sources such as domestic sewage, solid waste
dumping. In the present study the maximum
TDS was observed site 1 (187.7 mg/l) and
the minimum was observed at site 4 (172.9
mg/l). Praveen et al. (2013) was observed the
value of total dissolved solids range between
(255 - 501 mg/l) in of River Ganga at
Kanpur. Kamboj et al., (2015) reported the
value of total dissolved solid range between
612.76-847.23 mg/l in Solani River at
Roorkee.
Hardness: Maximum Hardness found at site
1 (118mg/l) and minimum hardness found at
site 3 (85.0 mg/l). Total hardness in the range
of 0-17 mg/L as soft; 17-60 mg/L as slightly
hard; 60-120 mg/L as moderately hard; 120-
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180 mg/L as hard and more than 180 mg/L as
very hard Lehr et al.(1980).
Dissolved oxygen: Dissolved oxygen is an
important parameter in water quality
assessment and reflects the physical and
biological process prevailing in the water,
the D.O. value indicates the degree of
pollution in water bodies. In the present
study the D.O. of Ganga water at four sites
ranged between 4.45-9.8mg/l. Maximum
value of D.O. found at site 1 (9.8 mg/l) and
Minimum D.O. concentration in water
samples found at site 4 (4.45mg/l) and were
not found well within desirable limit (> 6.0
mg/L) as per the specifications of BIS, 2012.
Joshi and Sati (2011); Matta et al. (2015a)
reported that the Dissolved Oxygen values at
Har ki Pauri, Singh Dwar and Daksha
Temple during snans the values declined to
about 7.8 mg/L, 8.6mg/L and 8.4 mg/L. The
values recorded were within the prescribed
limits of WHO standards for drinking water.
Biochemical oxygen demand: Biochemical
oxygen demand is the amount of oxygen
utilized by micro-organism in stabilizing the
organic matter. BOD in general gives a
qualitative index of organic substance which
is degraded quickly in a short time period. In
the present study the BOD of site 4 found
very high (20.5 mg/l) which were not found
within desirable limit (<2.0mg/l) as per the
specifications of BIS, 2012.
Alkalinity: Alkalinity concentration in all
the water samples of Ganga Canal were also
found well within desirable limit (200 mg/L)
as per the specifications of BIS, 2012 of
drinking water. Maximum Alkalinity was
observed at site 1 (77.0 mg/l) and minimum
Alkalinity was observed at site 4 (65.0 mg/l).
Available phosphorus: In the present study
Available phosphorus varies from 0.09-0.186
ppm. Maximum value of Available
phosphorus found at site 4 (0.186 ppm) and
minimum value found at site 2 (0.10 ppm).
Sodium: In the present study the maximum
value of sodium concentration was observed
at site 4 (16.4mg/l) and minimum of sodium
concentration was observed at site 1(3.5
mg/l).
Potassium: Potassium were also found high
at site 4 (3.2 mg/l) and low at site 1 (0.51
mg/l). The values of sodium and potassium
were found within desirable limit as per the
specifications of BIS, 2012.
TC and FC: The Total Coliform (TC) count
ranged between 210 colonies/ 100 ml at site-
1 and 289 colonies/ 100 ml at Site-4 (Table
2). TC was also noted in increasing order
along the stretch of Ganga Canal. Similar
status of Ganga river water quality at
Haridwar was also found during Kumbh-
2010, when Coliform level increased by
28.99% at Har ki Pauri, 13.92% at Singhdwar
and 19.30% at Daksha Temple. This was
described owing to mass bathing, release of
flowers and other materials (Joshi and Sati,
2011).The FC count was observed minimum
as 110 colonies/ 100 ml (winter) at site Site-
2, whereas it was found maximum (205
colonies/ 100 ml) at Site-4 as depicted in
Table- 2. Diseases can occur as a result of
drinking the water from wells, which is
polluted by a combination of different waste
water micro-organisms, eating contaminated
fish or indulging in recreational activities in
polluted water bodies containing water borne
pathogens (Kumar et al., 2010; Matta et al.,
2015b). Consequently, fecal pollution can
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degrade the quality of water and restrict its Thus, the five water quality parameter
use for drinking and other recreational problem parameters identified are DO and
activities (Kulshreshtha and Sharma, 2006; BOD at site 4, available phosphorus at site 4,
Matta et al., 2015c). TC and FC (Table 2) due to the ritual bathing
and other activities.
S. No. Parameters Site – 1 Site – 2 Site -3 Site - 4 BIS 2012
(Control )
DL PL
1. pH 8.07 8.01 7.89 8.01 6.5 8.5
2. EC, µScm 290.1 278.00 269.0 258.0 500 1500
3. TDS, mg/l 187.7 186.26 180.23 172.9 500 2000
4. Hardness, mg/l 118 90.00 85.00 99.0 200 600
5. D.O., mg/l 9.8 9.5 8.9 4.45 > 6.0 -
6. B.O.D., mg/l 1.3 1.3 1.4 20.5 < 2.0 -
7. Alkalinity, mg/l 77.0 76.0 75.0 65.0 200 600
8. Available 0.10 0.09 0.083 0.186 < 0.1 -
phosphorus (ppm)
9. Sodium mg/l 3.5 3.14 3.10 16.4 - 200
10. Potassium mg/l 0.51 0.60 1.49 3.20 - 12
11. TC, colonies/ 100ml 210* 218* 268* 289* absent Absent
12. FC, colonies/ 100ml 116* 110* 164* 205* absent Absent
* Bold values indicates concentration more than permissible limit
Table 2: Water quality data of 12 physico-chemical and bacteriological
characteristics at four sampling sites of Ganga River during October
2016.
Conclusion Bhardwaj, V., Singh, D.S., Singh, A.K.
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