STUDY AREA

The Krishna river originates from Mahabaleshwar and joins Bay of Bengal at Masulipattam. This is covered by a span of about 1200 km The river is about 39 million years old and passes through various geological structures and climatic regions during its flow. The river flows with a south easterly trend in Maharashtra State through the Satara and Sangli districts till it reaches south of Miraj city where it enters Karnataka. Its flow in this state is about 260 km. Among its main tributaries in Maharashtra are the Venna, the Koyna, the Warna, the Panchaganga in addition to many smaller streams such as the Vedganga, Kudal South Mand; North Mand and Verala etc. The main geological rock exposures along the river Krishna is of Deccan Trap in Maharashtra State.

Vegetation along the Krishna river consists offorests of various types, open grasslands, various types of crops and rocky areas where was not found at Mahabaleshwar from where the Krishna starts, has a maximum height of 1450m..The hills are of " Deccan Trap" have a reddish type of soil. The forest here can be classified into southern sub-tropical broad leaved hill forest.

The Parthenium (Congress grass) weed which has become a nation wide problem, is also found along the Krishna river in this area. This weed was not found at Mahabaleshwar. Dhom which is 20 km away from Mahabafcshwar showed the existance of this weed. From Dhom onwards it was observed growing throughout the area studied along both the banks of the river.

In the hilly areas at the source, rice, finger millet, groundnnt and hybrid jowar were the crops under cultivation. Sugarcane cultivation starts from Dhom downwards and is the major crop along the banks of the river throughout this state. One of the seven agro-climatic regions recognised for.sugarcane growing, the Krishna flow through a tropical peninsula.

In this region equitable climatic conditions prevail and sugarcane cultivation is mainly due to life and canal irrgation, of which the former is most evident. Sugarcane fields first appear at at Dhom village which is only 20 km away from the origin of the river but due to heavy rainfall and inadequate transport facilities it is not in abundance at Dhom and before, but onwards, sugarcane is successfully cultivated and there are seven sugar factories located along the banks of the river including three factories which are along the banks of the Krishna river tributaries.

Following are the main varities of sugarcane under cultivation in this area :

1	Khanapuri Pundye	-	For Jaggery,
2	Kalkye	-	For Jaggery,
3	CO-740<	-	For Sugar,
4	CO-419	-	For Sugar,

Due to extensive cultivation and mechanisation in farming, excessive use of synthetic as against natural fertilizers and no resting of soil associa'ed with improper water management, the physical and chemical properties of the soils are changing, and soil in this region is becoming more compact and poorly aerated. The pH of soil is turning alkaline and here are distinct salt affected patches. Surface runoff, highly alkaline in nature, finds way into the river affecting its utility. In addition to this, as stated earlier, discharges from the industries and human settlements in large quantities are also added into the river. Considering the differential load of pollutants 8 different spots were selected for detailed study along the Krishna river in Karad-Sangli region. The details of the spots selected are described below.

1. Sangam ( Karad )
At the confluence of the Krishna and the Koyna rivers. This spot is considered as free from pollution load as compared with that of other spots selected. for the present study. This is 100 km downstream from the origin of the river.

2. Krishna Bridge ( Karad )
This spot is 500 m downstream from spot No. 1. The sampling was done 100 m downstream from the point where the untreated sewage of the Karad city is discharged into the Krishna river occasionally, though not very regularly. The discharge is more especially when the Sewage Treatment Plant of the muncipalty is not in function due to various reasons.

3. Khubi
This spot is about 20 km downstream of spot No. 2 and 150 m before the confluence of a stream with the river which carries wastes of a Large Scale sugar & alcohol industry Due to extensive cultivation and mechanisation in farming, excessive use of synthetic as against natural fertilizers and no resting of soil associa'ed with improper water management, the physical and chemical properties of the soils are changing, and soil in this region is becoming more compact and poorly aerated. The pH of soil is turning alkaline and here are distinct salt affected patches. Surface runoff, highly alkaline in nature, finds way into the river affecting its utility. In addition to this, as stated earlier, discharges from the industries and human settlements in large quantities are also added into the river. Considering the differential load of pollutants 8 different spots were selected for detailed study along the Krishna river in Karad-Sangli region. The details of the spots selected are described below .

4. Kole
This spot is 450 m downstream of spot No. 3.

5. Jackwell (Sangli)
This spot is about 94 km downstream of spot No. 4 and 150 m before the conflu- ence of Sheri Nala with the Krishna river. The Sheri Nala is a high.y polluted stream which brings mainly wastes from a Large Scale sugar factory and its sister industrial units and a cotton mill. The river water is pumped for human consumption from a point just few meter downstream where the Sheri Nala meets the river. This has resulted into many disease out breaks in the past few years, in which several casualties resulted. Vulnerability to disease increase if the chlorination plant of the muncipality does not function mainly due to power cuts or otherwise.