Assessment of religion-touristic activities on the water quality of Ganga river and solid waste generation within Haridwar city, Uttarakhand, India

<p>Mohit Kumar</p>

Assessment of religion-touristic activities on the water quality of Ganga river and solid waste generation within Haridwar city, Uttarakhand, India

Mohit Kumar

Dev Sanskriti University, India

: Expert Opin Environ Biol

Abstract

The quantity of solid waste generation depends upon factors such as living standards, food habits and degree of commercial activities and the quality of the waste also varies seasonally. According to the study carried out by central pollution control board (CPCB) during 2000, in class I cities, the solid waste generation was about 0.5kg/capita/day. In other cities, the average solid waste generation was 0.2kg/capita/day. The quantity of waste generation is directly related to increase of urbanization. the present urban population of India is about 25% and is estimated to go up to 60% in 2025. In India currently about 1,00,000 metric tons of Municipal solid waste are generation in a day. Present study was conducted to find out the impact of heavy gathering of pilgrims and their activities on the water quality of Ganga river and generation of solid waste during selected festive days round the year of 2017 and 2018. Some selected physico-chemical parameters viz. temperature, pH, transparency, turbidity, total dissolved solids, chlorides, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, sodium and potassium were monitored and amount of solid waste also analyzed during the study period. It was found that all the parameters showed in the Har-ki-Pauri (site II). The relative differences for temperature was 12.99% higher, pH 1.62% higher, transparency 37.08% lower, TDS 27.28% higher, DO 7.8% lower, BOD 17.24% higher, chlorides 20% higher, sodium 6.72% higher and potassium 5.05% higher at Har-ki-Pauri as compared to reference site Sapta Rishi Ashram Ghat (site-I). Solid waste was segregated in two categories viz. biodegradable and non-biodegradable. The relative difference in the amount of Biodegradable waste was 500.42% higher and for non-biodegradable was 178.84% higher at the Har-ki-Pauri in comparison to reference site Sapta Rishi ashram Ghat.