Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

Bhagyashri U. Jadhav ¹, S. S. Sathe ², P. K. Goel ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Pollution Studies, Yashawantaro Chavan College of Science, Vidyanagar, Karad-415 124, Maharashtra, IN
2 Department of Botany, Raje Ramarao Mahavidyalay, Jath, Maharashtra, IN

Abstract

Krishna River is one of the 14 major rivers of India, which originates from Mahabaleshwar and flows all across southwestern Maharashtra covering several important towns like Wai, Satara, Karad and Sangli. The present study was made in the Krishna River at two sites, mainly Eksar and Wai. The Eksar site is before entering of the river at Wai. The Wai is holy city and comparatively a polluted city due to religious and cultural activities. The purpose of taking Eksar site was mainly for comparison purpose. A total number of 42 species was recorded in the Krishna River belonging to four major classes, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Euglenophyceae. Algal species recorded at Wai are highly tolerant to organic pollution, while the species obtained in the untainted section before water enters in Wai have comparatively several sensitive species. This indicates that the water is non-polluted or relatively less polluted at Eksar. The Palmer's algal index shows very low organic pollutants at Eksar and probable organic pollution at Wai. Shannon's diversity index reveals that the human activity at Wai has made the river highly polluted, which at a glance looks like of no direct use. Simpson's index is used to assess the dominance of algal species. According to the Simpson's index, species are not evenly distributed in both the sites. Environmental Gini index also shows the Wai as comparatively a polluted site.

Keywords

Algal Studies, Diversity Indices, Krishna River.

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