242
Views
14
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Articles

Appraisal of water quality in the Lakes of Nainital District through numerical indices and multivariate statistics, India

, , &
Pages 219-229 | Received 20 Feb 2017, Accepted 03 Oct 2017, Published online: 09 Nov 2017
 

ABSTRACT

Nainital district is naturally gifted with numbers of natural water bodies. Among these water bodies, the four lakes (Nainital, Bhimtal, Naukuchiatal and Sattal) are the major source of freshwater for the local inhabitants and industries situated in surrounding area. However, the lakes receive an enormous amount of untreated wastewater which imbalances the nutrients concentration in lake water. Therefore, the present study is focused to assess the water quality using water quality indices (NSFWQI, CPI and HPI) based on the concentration of parameters (like DO, BOD, heavy metals, etc.) in the lakes. The envirometric applications (HCA and PCA) were also used to identify the similarity in pollution load at sampling locations and the source of factor responsible for pollution in the lakes. The water samples were collected in pre- and post-monsoon months in the year 2014–2015, from 12 sampling locations. The results indicate that the water quality of lakes is unsuitable for drinking, as the average CPI was 0.90 and 0.88 in Bhimtal Lake, 1.42 and 1.43 in Nainital Lake, 1.19 and 1.27 in Naukuchiatal Lake, 1.46 and 1.42 in Sattal Lake in pre- and post-monsoon months, respectively. The HPI was found more in Nainital Lake than in rest other three lakes, while risk assessment index (RAI) was found in range RAI > 1 in the four lakes. HCA gained two clusters and PCA gained two PCs, which indicate the impact of both anthropogenic and natural sources for deterioration of water quality. Therefore, it has been suggested that the lake water must be treated before used for drinking.

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), Government of India for financial assistance in the form of academic scholarship during their Master of Technology programme in Environmental Management of Rivers and Lakes in IIT Roorkee and also thankful to Lake Development Authority and D.S.B. campus, Kumaoun University for providing the previous year (2003–2011) water quality data of the lakes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 61.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 144.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.