River – Narmada

Origin – Amarkantak

States – Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat

Watershed area – 98,797 sq km of area

Length – 1300 km

Natural surface water bodies like rivers and streams are subjected to pollution comprising of organic
and inorganic constituent. Narmada is the largest west flowing river in India and originates from
Amarkantak at an elevation of 900m in the Mekhala range of Shadol district, Madhya Pradesh. The
river is being polluted here by much city sewage along with industrial effluents from Security paper
Mill as it provide a cheaper mode of waste disposal.

Following is the variation of water quality parameters of Narmada River at two different location and
its comparison with the standards provided by IS: 10500 and WHO Guidelines

Parameters Station 1 Station 2 IS:10500 WHO

Desirable Permissible Guidelines
pH 8.31 7.78 6.5-8.5 No Relaxation 6.5-8.5
Temperature(C) 23.4 26.2 - - -
Conductivity 266 334 475 1400 1400
(µs/cm)
Turbidity(NTU) 10.2 21.2 1 5 5
TDS (mg/l) 158 228 500 2000 2000
Free CO2 (mg/l) 0 14.4 - - -
Alkalinity (mg/l) 130 170 200 600 600
Total Hardness 138 160 200 600 600
(mg/l)
Calcium 75.6 90.72 - - 100-300
Hardness (mg/l)
Orthophosphate 0.1840 0.316 - - -
(mg/l)
Chloride (mg/l) 20.37 30.76 250 1000 250
Fluoride (mg/l) 0.11 0.14 1.0 1.5 1.5
Nitrate (mg/l) 0.684 2.384 45 No Relaxation 50
Dissolved 8.32 4.96 >5 mg/l No Relaxation >5 mg/l
Oxygen (mg/l)
B.O.D. (mg/l) 7.04 12 <3 mg/l - <3 mg/l
C.O.D. (mg/l) 17.8 28.2 - - -
Main Water Quality Issues

River pollution in India has now reached to a point of crisis due to unplanned urbanization and rapid
growth of industrialization. The entire array of life in water is affected due to pollution in water. The
problem of water quality deterioration is mainly due to human activities such as disposal of dead
bodies, discharge of industrial and sewage wastes and agricultural runoff, which are major cause of
ecological damage and pose serious health hazards. The degree of pollution is generally assessed by
studying physical and chemical characteristics of the water bodies.

Specific Contaminants

It was clear that the arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb)
and zinc (Zn) concentration in River Narmada was in the range of 0.00008 to 0.00854 mg/L, 0.00001
to 0.00154 mg/L, BDL to 0.00780 mg/L, BDL to 0.04265 mg/L, BDL to 0.00088 mg/L, BDL to 0.00981
mg/L and 0.00960 to 0.12030 mg/L respectively which was found to be within the acceptable limit
prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standard.

Toxic behavior of river water with respect to arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, lead
and zinc was not observed at all water quality stations of Narmada River.

The concentration of nickel in river Narmada was in the range of 0.00402-0.02432 mg/L which was
above the prescribed limit as per the BIS. This may be due to the more amount of nickel released
from the industries situated in this area.

High concentration of iron (> 0.3 mg/L) was observed. The highest concentration 1.01300 mg/L is
observed at Sandia during October, 2012 on river Narmada which was above the prescribed limit as
per the BIS.

Total Coliform

As shown in the Table, The total coliform bacteria were found higher. Total coliforms were found
from Nil to 12500/100 ml of sample. This indicates that the water is polluted due to mass bathing
and human excreta. Sewage may also be contributing factor in this.
Eutrophication

“Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to run-off from the
land, which causes a dense growth of plant life.”

The nutrient is mainly because of Nitrogen in the water which is washed off into the river by the
surface runoff. Human activities accelerate the rate and extent of Eutrophication through both
point-source and non-point-source. Due to this the creation of dense blooms of foul smelling
phytoplankton which reduces the water clarity and harm water quality. Thus, it depletes the
Dissolved Oxygen content in the water.

The above is the table showing Phosphorous contents in various rivers. For Narmada, the
Phosphorous content is around 0.10 mg/l. This causes Eutrophication in some areas where P content
is higher.