Assessment of physico-chemical parameters and WQI of Ashwani stream, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India
Priya Sharma, *Harinder Singh Banyal and Shivali Sharma
Department of Biosciences, Himachal Pradesh University, Summer Hill Shimla – 171005 (India) *Corresponding author Email: dr.harinderbanyal@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted to analyze the physicochemical parameters of water ofAshwani stream,Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The physicochemical parameters provide an insight into the overall quality of water and through their evaluation the water quality index was measured. Total of 9 physicochemical parameters were taken for the study including pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, TDS, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness and nitrates concentration. Based on the monthly evaluation of the physicochemical parameters WeightedArithmetic Water QualityIndex [WAWQI] was calculated. The analysis reveals that [WQI =98.56046] water of the stream is not safe for drinking and need some degree of treatment before consumption. It also revealed that some physicochemical parameters like total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness showed a great fluctuation in their respective values in April month due to sewage disposal in the stream.