Godavari water is safe, says study

Syed Akbar, TNN | Jun 5, 2015, 
  RAJAHMUNDRY: Godavari Pushkaram may well turn out to be a "healthy" affair for millions of pilgrims what with researchers finding that the water in the river near Rajahmundry is of "excellent grade".

The once-in-a-12-year river festival is scheduled to begin on July 14. It is estimated that about five crore people from various parts of the country will participate in the Pushkaram. About 3.4 crore people took the holy dip in the river during the last Godavari Pushkaram held in 2003. With millions converging on the river, the quality of water plays a significant role in the health of devotees. Moreover, a number of industries are located around Rajahmundry.

Researchers from Andhra University (AU) studied the water samples collected from the river over a period of time and subjected them to 'water quality index' (WQI) covering parameters such as alkalinity-salinity, quantum of dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness and presence of chemicals like calcium and magnesium. The water samples from Rajahmundry, which witnesses the largest of the gatherings during Pushkaram in AP and Telangana, have passed the WQI test.

However, the AU researchers did not study the biological aspects of the river water near Rajahmundry. The team comprising Prof BSN Raju and A Mahesh Kumar found that the WQI values were in the range of 99.28 (June 2012) and 98.36 (May 2015), which in other words means the water is of "excellent to good quality".

Interestingly, the WQI model developed by the AU team can also be used to predict the quality of water in the river in future. While developing the WQI model for Godavari river near Rajahmundry, the researchers took into consideration standards followed by national and international agencies, including the Central Public Health Environmental Engineering Organisation and the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Index.

Stating that the availability of dissolved oxygen plays a major role in the health of a water body, Raju and Kumar added that they had given higher weightage to the quantum of oxygen in the Godavari river to determine the water quality.

"The higher values of WQI indicated that the water is very much clear and free of any impurities. It is in good condition to support the biotic communities. The water quality index of the river can be predicted using this model in future," Raju and Kumar pointed out in their study.