SPATIO- TEMPORAL WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF RIVER GANGA AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA THROUGH WQI AND SPI

Abstract

An effort has been develop to access the water quality status of river Ganga in West Bengal India for drinking purpose using unified techniques. For this study, 14 parameters at 10 location from Beharampur to Diamond Harbour over 39 months (2020january —2023march) were considered. The eastern stretch of Ganga showed a variation of Water Quality Index (WQI) from 24.4539 to 1790.2545 and Synthetic Pollution Index (SPI) from 0.244539 to 1.7902545 in 36 months. . The map interpolated through GIS exposed that the entire river stretch in 36 months and location near to ocean during the entire period of 36 months were severely polluted (WQI >100 or SPI > 1).Turbidity ,DO and BOD concentration mainly contribute to the high scores of indices. Further, the origin of these ions was estimated through multivariate statistical techniques using SPSS .. It was recognized that the origin of these pollutant is mainly attributed to seawater influx, that of fluoride to human and industrial activities , and other parameters originated through geological as well as human activities. Based on the research, a few possible water treatment mechanisms are suggested to render the water fit for drinking.