An Assessment of Water Quality and Physicochemical Evaluation of Chhoti Gandak River: a Case Study of Sonepur |

ABSTRACT:

Chhoti Gandak is a meandering river which originates inthe terai area of the Ganga Plain and serves as a lifeline for the people ofDeoria district, Uttar Pradesh. It travels a distance of about 250 km anddrains into Ghaghara near Gothani, Siwan district of Bihar. It has beenobserved that people of this region suffer from water-borne health problems;therefore water samples were collected to analyse its quality along the entirelength of Chhoti Gandak River. The principal components of water quality are controlledby lithology, gentle slope gradient, poor drainage, long residence of water,ion exchange, weathering of minerals, heavy use of fertilizers, and domesticwastes. At some stations water is hard with an excess alkalinity and is notsuitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. The variation in the local andregional hydrogeochemical processes distinguished the geogenic sources from theanthropogenic one. Chhoti Gandak is a 250 km long ground water fed meanderingriver. It originates in the terai area of Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradeshand drains into Ghaghara River near Gothani in Siwan district of Bihar state.The drainage basin, water discharge, sediment load, and slope gradientdetermining its energy are controlled by climate and tectonics which evolve anddecide the type of fluvial landforms. The role of tectonics is determined bymorphometric parameters such as hypsometric integral (HI), drainage basinasymmetry factor (AF), stream length - gradient index (SL), and transversetopographic symmetry factor (T). These geomorphic indices indicate activetectonics in this basin and tilting towards west. Narrow channel confinedbetween wide valley, nature of cliffs, and discharge of river exhibit role of climatein this region. In the present paper geomorphological and morphometric analysishave been carried out to interpret control of tectonics, and climate in theChhoti Gandak River basin.