Water Quality Changes in Balu River during Non-Monsoon and Monsoon Period

M. M Rahaman

doi:10.3759/jowrem.v2i3.1823

Abstract

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is surrounded by numerous rivers and canals, such as Turag, Buriganga, Dhaleswari, Balu, and Shitalakshya. Among those, Balu river is one of the important water resources to supply drinking water for Dhaka metropolitan area (DMA), which is the 11thlargest city in the world. Nearly 14 million people reside in DMA. Major industrial zones in and around Dhaka are disposing untreated water directly in Balu river that deteriorates the water quality of Balu river. Physical and chemical parameters are the main indicators for measuring water quality. Water samples were collected from four different locations of Balu river at the zero depth (surface of the river) during non-monsoon (May 2015) and monsoon (June 2015) period. In the non-monsoon period, the highest value of PH, color of water, turbidity, sulfate, ammonia, nitrate, TDS, EC, BOD5, DO were 8.02, 241 PTCO, 43.54 NTU, 24 mg/l, 22.7 mg/l, 2 mg/l, 188.3 mg/100ml, 391 µs/cm, 2.6 mg/l, 4.45 mg/l respectively. While in the monsoon period, the highest value of PH, color of water, turbidity, sulfate, ammonia, nitrate, TDS, EC, BOD5, DO were 6.94, 115 PTCO, 20.45 NTU, 18 mg/l, 2.61 mg/l, 0.7 mg/l, 133 mg/100ml, 277 µs/cm, 2.4 mg/l, 3.94 mg/l respectively. The findings suggest that present water quality of Balu river is not suitable for drinking and domestic uses, however, in monsoon period water can be used for agricultural and industrial purposes.