How Good is Your Estuarine Water?
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2017, Vol 1, Issue 2
Abstract
The coastal and estuarine zone of West Bengal is noted for its rich biodiversity owing to the presence of Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem. However, due to intense industrialization and urbanization, many of the pockets have become ecologically sensitive. The present paper is an attempt to evaluate the Ecologically Sensitive Zone (ESZ) through enumeration of Aquatic Health Index (AHI). In the present programme, three stations in and around Indian Sundarbans namely Canning, Junput and Sagar Island were selected and the aquatic health index value of these stations varied as per the order Sagar Island > Canning > Junput. The lower value of the index reflects deteriorated condition of the coastal water due to excessive industrial, agricultural and domestic run-off. The high values of the index are the indicators of congenial coastal environment. Introduction: India, with a long coastline of over 8000 km and 2 million sq. km of EEZ, has great potential for utilizing the marine and estuarine resources for the economic benefit of the country. West Bengal, a maritime state of the northeastern part of the country, adjacent to Bangladesh, is indented in the south by numerous river openings. The state has a coastal area of 10,055 sq. km spread in three major districts namely 24 Parganas (N), 24 Parganas (S) and Midnapur (E). The Hugli-Matla estuarine complex adjacent to coastal West Bengal is one of the most dynamic estuaries of the world, which is serving as the nursery of several varieties of finfishes and shellfishes that have great potentiality in strengthening the economic backbone of the country. However, it has become a significant conveyor of pollutants of different categories as because this system receives domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes containing cellulose, acids, alkalis, nitrogenous compounds, heavy metals, fly ash, phenol, sulphides and pesticide residues, which adversely affect the fish food organisms, near the outfall regions (Mitra, 1998). Matla and other eastward estuaries receive Kolkata and suburban sewage with organic load, heavy metals, ammonia and synthetic detergents flowing down through the Kulti and Bidyadhari estuaries (www. annauniv.edu/ion/info). The chain of the industries situated in and around Haldia port-cum-industrial complex has aggravated the situation in the western sector of Indian Sundarbans. Regular monitoring of the entire process is of utmost importance in this context to keep an eagle’s eye on the quality of aquatic phase in and around Indian Sundarbans. One important step towards this is scaling of the water quality of different site through consideration of most relevant parameters, which are functions of space and time. The process of scaling is done by developing an index through which a single value can be assigned to the aquatic phase for the purpose of its scoring in terms of status, use and management. Thus AHI aims at giving a single value to a particular aquatic system on the basis of list of constituents (parameters/variables) and their concentrations in the said aquatic system. One can then compare different samples for quality on the basis of the index value of each sample. The present article is an approach to compare the AHI of three sites in different salinity zones in and around Indian Sundarbans, with the aim to prepare a scorecard for rating these water bodies in connection to the ecologically sensitive zone. Materials and Methods: The entire network of the present programme consists of the evaluation of the health of coastal and estuarine water with respect to selective physico-chemical variables like surface water salinity, pH, temperature, transparency, dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate, phosphate, silicate, oil and grease, dissolved Pb, dissolved Zn and dissolved Cu during June, 2016. Samplings have been carried out at three stations in and around Indian Sundarbans namely Canning (low saline zone), Junput (high saline zone) and Sagar Island (high saline zone).
Authors and Affiliations
Sufia Zaman, Abhijit Mitra
Keywords
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- EP ID EP567063
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2017.01.000180
- Views 179
- Downloads 0
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