PREFACE

The Krishna river is one of the most important rivers of the nation which flows for about 260 Km. in the State of Maharashtra. During its course of flow in this region the is subjected to various human activities particularly the industrialization and use of modern technology in agriculture, posing a threat to the resource. This report is an outcome of a study carried out from July to December, 1980, by the Department of Pollution, Science College, Karad.

We are thankful to Prof. R. M. Raverkar, Principal; Prof. B Dhavale, Head of the Botany Department; Prof. V. A. Jamadagni, Head of the Chemistry Department and Prof. S. C. Kale, Head of the Microbiology Department; Science College, Karad for their keen interest. The generous grants made available, by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi under the Scheme of the Restructured Courses to this college are gratefully acknowledged.

Staff		Student
1	Dr.D.B.Boralkar.	1	Mr.U.A.Khairmode.
2	Dr.R.K.Trivedy.	2	Mr.U.A.Khairmode.
3	Mr.S.GPathak.	3	Mr.D.B.Shinde.
4	Mr.S.S Bajekal .	4	Mr.J.M.Garud.
5	Mr.A.M.Deshmukh.

Project Director
Dr.D.B Boralkar
Assistant Professor of Pollution

Contents

I	:	Introduction	:	1
II	:	Study Area	:	2
III	:	Methodology	:	5
IV	:	Results	:	5
V	:	Discussion	:	8
VI	:	Conclusions	:	9
VII	:	References	:	10
VIII	:	Tables	:	11

INTRODUCTION

The nation is required by the central act of 1974 to take action to attain definite goals on water quality of our freshwater resource, taking notice of our depandence on natural resources and understanding our role in nature.

There seems to be little conciousness about our environment and close to very little is done to preserve it. The result is large scale deterioration of our resources. Shadows over our environment continue to remain and they will be darkening the Indian landscape until all India, young and old, does something about dispersing them.

Pollution of our freshwater resource is extensive and virtually no river or steam in India is Unaffected and increased population, industrialization and urbanization has aggrevated the situation.

River, due to its flowing nature have been continuously used for dumping of water. The unplanned discharge of sewage, industrial and agricultural tail waters and other effluents into the rivers has resulted in several episodes of pollution in the areas adjoining them.

The Krishna river is one of the very important rivers of the southern part of this nation. The river is immortalized for its holiness, beauty & majesty, and people of the adjoining areas are emotionally attached with it.

The Krishna river originate from the Western Ghats at Mahabaleshwar ( Satara Distt.) in the State of Maharashtra and flows southward for about 260 km. in this state. The water is primarily used for the purpose of irrigation by lift and /or canal system. Waster from the several human settlements and industies, particularly sugar, are discharged mostly untreated into the river. Extensive use of modern technology in agriculture has made this area one of the most agriculturally developed ones of this nation, where enormous amounts of synthetic chemicals are used. The agricultural wastes also find their way into the river which has so far not received any attention.

The present study was confind to Karad-Sangli area only, where the river is subjected to the maximum human activities in this state. This region entails special significance for the river water quality as more than seven sugar factories discharge, their effluents directly or indirectly into the river. Quite often sewage treated and /or untreated is also thrown into the river. In the recent past there have been many outbreaks of dreadful diseases like typhoid, cholera killing several people. To add insult to the injury the river water irrigation has also resulted in the salinity of the surrounding soils (Garjer, 197591; et. al; 1981 and Boralkar, Trivedy & Kulkarni, 1981). This has prompted us to undertake the present study.

The study was carried out to asses the water quality of the river as indicated by monthly variations in several parameters and effects of various discharges on river water quality, between Karad and Sangli, two malor cities along the banks of the river in this state. The study covered about 120 km distance of the river and sampling of water was done at 8 different spots.