Physico-Chemical Studies on Water Quality Characteristics of Bahuda Estuary, Bay of Bengal

The study relates to the observation of various physico-chemical characteristics of the Bahuda estuary. The annual variation recorded was for temperature (22.84°C-30.48°C), salinity (14.42 -30.8 ppt), BOD (0.84-2.15 mg/L), DO (4.88-6.99 mg/L), pH (7.48 -8.44), nitrate (1.866-3.991 mg/L), ammonium (1.295-3.816 μg/L), phosphate (0.245-0.773 μg/L) and silicate (20.005-37.180 μg/L). The water temperature and salinity influence the hydro-chemical processes, which control the other parameters like pH, DO, BOD and nutrient levels in estuarine water. Temperature is positively correlated with salinity and negatively correlated with other water quality parameters of the estuarine water. The limits of water quality parameters were very less than the tolerance limits of fish growth. The BOD values in the estuarine water were relatively higher than other similar studies of the coast, which indicate the high productivity of the coastal water.