Vol. 8, Issue 2 (2019)

Author(s):
Ravi Kumar Mishra and Sachin Bhatt

Abstract:
Scarcity of water, pollution load, political issues and rising population has drawn a great attention for proper management of water resources such as surface water in 21st century. India is one of the developing country having prosperous fresh water resources in the form of rivers, Kunds, ponds and lakes etc. Varanasi is a religious city and is popularly known for its mythological Ghat on the bank of river Ganga. The developments, urbanization and load of the various pollutant sources lead to deterioration of the surface water of River Gnaga along the Ghat. In the present paper physico-chemical quality parameters of four major Ghat of river Ganga existing from ancient time at the Varanasi city studied in the February 2015. The important water quality parameters studied were temperature, pH, conductivity, total dissolved solid (TDS), acidity, chloride, total alkalinity, hardness, nitrate, phosphate, dissolve oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). All four ponds site have objectionable water quality especially with respect to human health, biotic life and entire ecosystem. The catchment area study to find out the major contributor of the deterioration in water quality of these ghats reveal various ritual activities, municipal waste water, washing discharge of temple effluents and animals waste.