Studies on the Pollution Status of Thengaithittu Fishing Harbour, Puducherry, India

Degradation of water quality has become a current environmental issue in view of its importance in maintaining the human health and ecosystem. The conventional source of drinking water is from rivers, wells and bore wells which are been used as untreated. Quality of water generally refers to the mineralogical component of water, which are necessary to be at the optimum level so as to maintain the proper growth of plants and animals. For the study Ariankuppam river an extension of Sankaraparani river situated at south of Puducherry region, south east coast of India was selected and the water samples were collected for different point and non-point sources and analyzed, for various physico–chemical water quality using appropriate certified and acceptable procedures. The study area experiences a seasonal climate and broadly divided into three seasons as winter (September & October), Rainy (November & December) and summer (January to March). Based on the demand for the potable water, the productivity has become a major concern which depends on the physico-chemical characteristic of the water body. The test were carried out for determining water quality parameters such as colour, Temperature, pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Suspended Solids (SS), Hardness, Chloride, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) for periodical water samples collected from the upstream, midstream and downstream based on the values recommended by WHO and BIS standards.