Water quality assessment near an industrial site of Damodar River, India

An assessment on the water quality parameters coliform including the bacterial abundance from a point source of river Damodar (24A degrees 26(') N and 86A degrees 53(') E), West Bengal, India was carried out during the period of 2004-2007. The site received mining and industrial effluents from the collieries and industries. The water samples collected on a monthly basis revealed the presence of the coliform bacteria Escherichia coli and Streptococcus sp., between 2,600 and 20,000 colony-forming unit/100 ml throughout the study period with peak abundance during the months of September to December, the post-monsoon period. The relative abundance of the two bacterial species was found to be y(E. coli) = 1.41x (Streptococcus) - 8.07 and were positively correlated (r = + 0.868, df = 34). Principal component analysis revealed three factors to clarify for the observed variance of the environmental variables. The mean values of the physicochemical parameters of the river water at the sampling sites were consistently higher than the levels specified by WHO and other regulatory bodies and qualify as polluted water. The presence of the coliform bacteria in these water samples warrants for proper measure to reduce the pollution at the point source and proper remediation strategies to combat contamination in the domestic water usage from river Damodar from this site and downstream.