Current World Environment

Introduction

With its many fold shining aspects, Aurangabad is also world famous for its historical Ellora caves and Mughal emperor Aurangajeb’s Tomb at Khultabad. These places are 33 and 30 km. away respectively from Aurangabad. The ancient town Ellora is situated on the bank of river Yelganga which originates from nearby basaltic mountains of Deccan platue. The location oif Ellora is 20° 00’ N and 75° 10’ E. It is also famous for its pilgrim the Ghrishneshwar Temple, one of twelfth Jotirlinga of lord Shiva. The Vishwakarma Shivalaya Kund which is also called as Ahilyabai Holkar Tank and Janardhan Swami Matha are another specialties of Ellora. Thousands of people from every corner of world visit Ellora. Therefore it was proposed to assess the water quality of this area.

Four sampling sites are from Ellora as Shivalaya Kund, Ghrishneshwar Temple well, well from Janardhan Swami matha and bore well sample from Pawan Ganpati mandir area. Another sampling station selected was Khultabad, situated to south east of Ellora. The mughal emperor Aurangajeb’s Tomb and Bhadramaruti mandir are in Khultabad. The famous hill stations “Mhaismal” and “Shulibhanjan” are near by places. Five sampling sites were selected from Khultabad area, out of them “Dharam Talab” and “Pangra Talab” and parionka talab were tanks. One sample was from well at “Bhadramaruti Temple” and the other was from bore well situated at the centre of town.

Material and Methods

All samples were collected in 500 mL sterilized bottles for physicochemical analysis. AR grade chemicals were used for preparation of regents in double distilled glass water. Physical parameters like Temperature, pH were measured on the spot by using water analysis kit. Remaining parameters were determined by using standard procedures.¹

Results and Discussion

The results on water quality from different sampling sites are given in Table 1 and 2 and are interpreted subsequently.
S1 = Tank (Ahilyabai Holkar Tank)
S2 = Dug Well (Ghrishneshwar Tample area)
S3 = Dug Well (Janardhan Swami Math area)
S4 = Bore Well (Pawan Ganesh Mandir area)
S5 = Tank (Dharam Talab)
S6 = Tank (Pangra Talab)
S7 = Dug Well (Bhadra Maruti Temple area)
S8 = Bore Well (Khultabad Town)
S9 = Tank (Parionka Talab)
 

Image 1 Click here to view image

Temperature

The various chemical and biological actions in water organisms depend upon temperature.² The temperature of water depends on atmospheric conditions. The increase in temperature of water reduces solubility of gases, changes the taste and fastens the chemical reactions in water.³ The maximum temperature 26.2 °C was recorded at sit S9 and minimum 24.1 °C at sit S4.

pH

The pH is one of the most important parameters deciding the extent of water pollution.⁴ It affects directly the chemical and biological reactions in water.⁵ In present study the pH range noted was nearly neutral i.e. 6.90 to 7.25. The maximum pH value 7.40 was noted at site S5. The pH range given by the ISI standards⁶ for bathing and drinking water is in between 6.50 to 8.50.⁷ Hence it can be concluded that the pH range of these samples are within range.
 

Table 1: Hydrochemical analysis of water samples Click here to view table

BOD

The BOD is one of the most important parameters in water quality assessment.⁸ It reflects in physical, chemical and biological processes prevailing in water. Its maintenance is very important for survival of biological forms. The permissible limit of BOD is 8 ppm.⁹ In the present investigations the values of BOD are in desired limit.
 

Table 2: The maximum & minimum values of various parameters Click here to view table

COD:

The COD plays important role in deciding the extent of water pollution. The permissible limit of COD is 100-150 ppm. High COD values have detrimental effects on aquatic life. In the present investigations the values of COD are in acceptable limit.

Hardness

The total hardness is an important parameter of water quality assessment. The hardness of water is due to salts of calcium, magnesium with carbonates, bicarbonates and sulphates¹⁰. The degree of hardness can be classified¹¹ as:

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