Impact of Industrial Wastewaters on the Physicochemical Characteristics of Chambal River at Nagda, M. P., India

The impact of effluent from chemical and textile industries on the physicochemical characteristics of Chambal river was carried out for period of one year. Water samples were collected quarterly covering all the three seasons. Five sampling stations were chosen along the river, corresponding to the locations with notable industrial discharges into the river. The effluents discharged into stations 2, 3 and 4 led to slight increase in pH, BOD and COD values. t-test results revealed that turbidity, TDS, TSS, electrical conductivity, DO, chloride, sulphate and hardness were significantly different among various stations sampled. The upstream (station 1) and downstream (station 5) reference sites recorded lower values of these parameters. Season did not affect much of these parameters except for chloride, sulphate and TDS, which were significantly different among the various sampling periods. The study underscores the need for immediate remediation programmers to control the poor water status of the sections of the river studied.