S.No.

Designated-Best-Use

Class of Criteria Water 1. Total Coliforms Organism MPN/IOOml shall be 50 or less 2. pH between 6.5 and 8. 3. Dissolved Oxygen 6mg/1 or more 4. Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 days 20OC 2mg/1 or less 1. Total Coliforms Organism MPN/IOOml shall be 500 or less 2. pH between 6.5 and 8.5 3. Dissolved Oxygen 5mg/1 or more 4. Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 days 20OC 3mg/1 or less 1. Total Coliforms Organism MPN/IOOml shall be 5000 or less 2. pH between 6 to 9 3. Dissolved Oxygen 4mg/1 or hore 4. Biochemical Oxygen Demand 5 days 20OC 3mg/1 or less 1. pH between 6.5 to 8.5 2. Dissolved Oxygen 4mg/1 or more 3. Free Ammonia (as N)

Some Examples from Ind River

1 Drinking Water Source without conventional treatment but after A disinfection

1. Beas at Manali Himacha Pradesh 2. Ravi at Madhopur, Hima Pradesh

2 Outdoor bathing (Organised)

1. Ganges at Reshikesh, Ut Pradesh 2. Tapi atNepanagar, Madh Pradesh

3 Drinking water source after conventional treatment and disinfection

1. Achankoli at Thumpama Kerala 2. Cauvery at Napokulu Barrage, Karnataka

4 Propagation of Wild life and Fisheries

1. Brahmani at Panposh, Or 2. Brahmaputra at Dibrugar Assam

1.2 mg/l or less 5 Irrigation, Industrial Cooling, controlled Waste disposal E 1. pH between 6.0 to 8.5 2. Electrical Conductivity at 25OC micro mhos/cm Max 2250 3. Sodium absorption Ratio Max. 26 4. Boron Max. 2mg/1

1. Mahi at the Confluence o River Chap, Gujurat 2. Sabarmati at Miroli Villa Gujurat

Table indicates various limits for a number of water quality parameters that are partly chemical, biological or physical. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that regulates water quality in India has classified water standards based on five broad categories of use. Drinking water, representing class A should not have more than 50 coliform counts/100 ml. And the biological oxygen demand (BOD), an index of the health of water to support life, should be maximum 2 mg/l. Most of the river waters in India at various locations are generally not suitable for directly drinking with high BOD and at places high coliform counts acting as the critical barriers. Class B represents requirement for bathing can have double the level for coliform counts than in class A but other parameters should be about the same order of magnitude. Most of the rivers at a few selective points such as Rishikesh for the Ganges, Ranganthitu for the Cauvery and Mandhavim in Goa are suitable for bathing. Class C refers to water that has undergone some form of treatment and disinfecting and for this water coliform could go upto 5000 counts/100 ml while the BOD has to be less than 3 mg/l. A number of water bodies such as the Sukhna lake in Chandigarh, Ramgarh Lake in Udaipur, Asthamudi lake in Kerala, Cauvery river at Tiruchirappali and Narmada river at Bharuch come under this categories. Class D represent the water quality requirements for wild life and free ammonia should be less than 1.2 mg/l besides dissolved oxygen >4 mg/l. Many water bodies in Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and some locations in river Ganga such as Kanpur and Rajmahal and Pichola lake in Udaipur come under this category. Class E represents irrigation and industrial requirements that should not have Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) >26 and conductivity >2250 S/cm. Some lakes in Pondicherry, Ganga at Varanasi comes under this category. There are still some water bodies at various places throughout the country that are even below class E meaning totally unfit for any use. Examples of such bodies can be found in river Sabarmathi in Ahmedabad, creeks of

Elephanta Island in Maharashtra and Ashthamudi backwater in Quilon, Kerala. Though the water quality criteria that have been used by CPCB are very broad keeping in mind the ground reality in India, still there are so many water bodies that are not fit for one or other type of use. Hence we do have a serious problem with water quality and not just quantity alone. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) has evolved a wide range of water quality parameters that are specific to anthropogenic input to water bodies and limits to be followed before using such water for drinking water purposes. Table-11 summerises various parameters (EPA) that have been identified so far in water and limits set with possible health aspects. Cyanide, selenium and Arsenic are very toxic elements and there are no standard limits in India that can be followed but many industries discharge these components to the water bodies; hence we have to follow some standards and the US-EPA at present has widely acceptable standards for many such parameters. Even among microorganisms the US-EPA has laid out very strict controls for industries and their microbiological limits and turbidity values for drinking water can be summerised as follows: Giardia lamblia Viruses Legionella : 99.99% killed or inactivated : 99.99% killed or inactivated : no limits but by controlling the above bacteria, these bacteria will also be automatically regulated Turbidity : should not exceed 5 turbidity units of nephelometric units (NTU); any treated water with filters should not have more than 1 NTU

Heterotrophic plate count

: not more than 500 bacterial counts/ml.

The dissolved load of river water could be inorganic or organic in origin. Soil mineral reaction gives the water most of the inorganic constituents where as decomposition of plant debris give most of the organic constituents such as the dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved humic acids and many organic compounds. There are also solid particles either as sediments or as debris from soil wash out carried by the river, collectively known as Total Suspended Matter (TSM). These TSM actually are important as storehouse of many nutrients that are required for many biological systems. The Ganges river, for example carry an enormous amount of silt as TSM and this silt is very rich in nutrients such as C, N and P that

support many life forms. The total sediment load of the Ganges and Brahmaputra alone is around a billion tonnes per year and most of this goes to the oceans. Other rivers such as the Godavari and Narmada also carry sediments but in much lesser quantity than the Himalayan river systems. The TSM also is useful in regulating the dissolved load of river due to interaction in the river environment and may also, at places control some of the pollutants such as the heavy metals (Hg, As, Cd etc).