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Ionic
Balance of Water Quality at Uttarakhand Ganga - Farming Tributaries.
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Foreword
The
Ganga has been the most prominent and sacred river of Inrlia through
ages. Its water has been acclaimed the holiest in Indian mythology
and its basin, therefore, houses a large number of pilgrimage centres
al~ along the course starting from its origin to estuary where people
throng in la~ge numbers to take holy dip which, ihey consider, purge
away sins. It is, therefore, imperative to restore and maintain
river water at various reaches to such qualities as are needed for
their designated best uses. With this objective the Central Board
for the Prevention and Control of Water Poliution has under taken
the task of river basinwise pollution potential assessment not only
for the Ganga but also for other rivers to frame control management
programmes and the information available are disseminated through
the Assessment and Development Study of River Basin Series (ADSORBS).
Studies have earlier been conducted for water quality monitoring
of the Ganga and its tributaries at various reaches except the upper
stretch and
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the
data reported through Central Board's Publications: ADSORBS/2/1980-8l,
ADSORBS! 4/1980-81 and ADSORBS/7/1982-83 covering the entire course
from Rishikesh to Gangasagar, the confluence with the Bay of Bengal.
But routine monitoring of the stretch from the origin of the Ganga
to Rishikesh, where it leaves the mountainous track and reaches the
plains, is still not possible due to difficulties in sampling and
subsequent chemical analyses. .
To have an on the spot accOunt of the water quality status of the
Uttarakhand Ganga-forming tributaries, a survey was made by Central
Board collecting a few grab samples at various points ( pre monsoon
period) and getting them analysed in the Central Board's , Laboratory.
Though brief, the study revealed certain important findings from the
ionic balance of the water of different tributaries combining to form
the Ganga which have been highlighted in this report.
Appreciation is due to Dr. S.D. Makhijani for conducting the analysis
and to Shri Debadatta Basu and Dr. S.P. Chakrabarti for their help
in the inerpre- pretation of data and to Smt. Sati Setia for typing
the manuscript. Acknowledge- . ment is duly ex tended to Shri Jagdish
Narula for neatly preparing the report on electronic typewriter. |
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Nilay Chaudhuri
Chairman, CPCB
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