3 (3&4) : 289-291, 2009

PHYSICOCHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF TWO

MAJOR LAKES IN BHUBANESWAR, ORISSA

S. P. PANDA1 AND C. S. K. MISHRA*

1
Environmental Research and Development Laboratory, Environment Management Division,
Bhushan Steel Limited; Dhenkanal - 759 121, Orissa
*Department of Zoology and Biotechnology,
College of Basic Sciences and Humanities,
Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar - 751 003
E-mail: cskmishra@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION Lake water samples were collected weekly for

a period of six months from August 2005 to
Bhubaneswar,the capital city of the state of Orissa, is one of the fast growing cities January 2006 from two major freshwater lakes
of India with a population of over one million.The city is also well known for its i.e. Vanivihar and Nicco-Park lake located in
temples and attract a large number of tourists from all over the globe. Rapid Bhubaneswar,Orissa.Water samples were
growth of resident and floating population in the city has increased the demand collected at random from three points i.e inlet,
for potable water. However, the major water bodies such as the lakes and the middle and outlet of each lake. Major physico-
rivers which receive considerable quantity of wastewater and municipal sewage chemical parameters such as temperature, pH,
turbidity, conductivity, alkalinity, acidity, total
have shown signs of eutrophication.
hardness, magnesium hardness, chloride,
Literatures are available on limnological studies of Indian Fresh water ponds and sulphate, phosphate, nitrate, ammonia-N,
reservoirs ( Sharma and Pant, 1979; Jana and Das, 1980; Mohanty, 1981; Raju, iron, DO, BOD, COD, Cl, total hardness,
1990; Ara et al., 2003, Thakur et al., 2003; Ravi Kumar et al., 2005; Mossa, TDS, TSS etc were measured. Microbiological
2006; Fall et al., 2006; Okyang et al., 2006; Dhembare, 2007; Rawat and Jakher, characteristics such as total coliform and faecal
2007; Thippeswamy, 2007). Since no information is available on water quality coliform bacteria of water samples were also
status of lakes of Bhubaneswar, an attempt has been made to study important studied. Results indicated high pH, BOD,
COD, TC, Cl, SO4 and low TDS and DO values
physico-chemical and some microbiological parameters of two major freshwater
in these water bodies indicating signs of organic
lakes namely, Vani Vihar and Nicco Park lakes. pollution. Measures for minimization of
organic load in the water bodies have been
MATERIALS AND METHODS suggested.

Both the lakes are natural water bodies receiving rainwater and sewage from the
surrounding areas.The lakes are surrounded by thickly populated residential
colonies,markets and restaurants.Chemical and biological treatment of Nicco
Park lake water is in practice at the inlet zone where as no such treatment is done
in the Vanivihar lake.
Lake water samples were collected on weekly basis from August 2005 to January
2006 from the lakes. In the Vani Vihar lake the samples were collected from the
inlet(L1), middle (L2) and outlet (L3) and in the Nicco Park lake the water samples
were collected from inlet(L4), treated zone(L5), middle(L6) and outlet(L7) zones.For
measurement of dissolved oxygen (DO), samples were collected in 300 mL BOD KEY WORDS
bottles. DO was measured by Winkler’s iodometric method. Temperature, pH, Lake water quality
and DO of the samples were measured at the collection site. For measurement of Physicochemical
other physico-chemical and microbiological parameters samples were collected Microbiological
in wide mouth plastic bottles and transported to the laboratory. Turbidity,
conductivity, alkalinity, total hardness, magnesium hardness, Ca hardness,
chloride, sodium, pottasium,TDS,TSS,TFS, sulphate, phosphate, nitrate, ammonia- Received : 06.05.2009
N, iron, BOD.COD, Total coliform and faecal coliform bacteria of water samples Revised : 19.10.2009
were analysed as per APHA, AWWA, WPCF(1995). Accepted : 11.11.2009

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION *Corresponding author

289
S. P. PANDA AND C. S. K. MISHRA

The mean±SD values of different quality parameters of lakes
have been illustrated in Table 1. The pH values of water in
both the lakes are within the prescribed standard i.e. 6.5-8.5,
which indicated that the water quality is acceptable with respect
to pH value. Dissolved oxygen (DO) indicates physical,
chemical and biological activities in a water body. It is an
important indicator of water quality.Besides, DO affects the
solubility and availability of many nutrients and therefore
influence the productivity of aquatic ecosystem (Wetzel,
1983). In the present study DO values at most of the sampling
points of both Nicco Park and Vanivihar lakes are below the
ideal standard value of 5.0-6.0 . It has been observed that the
BOD load of inlet water of Vanivihar Lake was 12 mg/L which
increased to 18 mg/L inside the lake and further increased to
50 mg/L at the outlet zone. Lower DO values and high BOD
levels in both the lakes are likely due to inflow of sewage and
rainwater from the adjoing areas as well as disposal of garbage
and animal waste into the lake water. People use the lake
water for bathing and recreation purposes which might be
another reason for the high BOD value at the outlet zone.The
present finding corroborates earlier observations by Ara et
al., (2003)and Ravikumar et al., (2005) on freshwater lake
and reservoir respectively. The BOD load of inlet water of
Nicco Park Lake was 60 mg/L which fell to 28 mg/L inside the
lake and again increased to 46 mg/L in the jetty area. It has
been noted that this parameter increased to 50 mg/L near the
dam of the Nicco Park. Since the lake water at the inlet zone is
subjected to biological and chemical treatment,lower BOD
value was recorded in the L5 zone. The increase in BOD in
L6 and L7 zones might be partly due to degraded algal biomass
and inflow of nutrient rich sewage water.
TDS values of both the lakes ranged from 200 mg/L to 500
mg/L. Total hardness (mg/L CaCO3) was found to be constant
in Vanivihar lake i.e. 40 mg/L where as in Nicco park lake it
was recorded to be higher i.e. 58 mg/L at the outlet. The
Chloride concentration at the inlet of Vanivihar lake recorded
as 64 mg/L increased to 86 mg/L at the outlet .High chloride
level in freshwater has been correlated to influx of garbage
and animal excreta (Wetzel, 1975; Chandra et al.,1981;
Chapman and Kimstach, 1992). Ara et al., (2003) have also
reported high values of chloride in a freshwater lake due to
input of organic matter of animal origin. Chloride increases
the degree of eutrophication (Sinha, 1986). Similar observation
was also recorded by Chatterjee and Raziuddin, (2002). Since
both the lakes are surrounded by thickly populated residential
areas and the lake water receives organic sewage from the
locality,high chloride level in the lake water is in agreement
with the earlier observations.
Sulphate concentration in Vani Vihar lake increased from inlet
to outlet i.e. from 11 mg/L to 15 mg/L .In Nicco park lake the
sulphate value at inlet was 13 mg/L which fell to 11.5mg/L.
The standard test for bacterial concentration of water involves
the determination of indicator organisms, like coliform group
of bacteria. Table 1 show that both the lakes have high density
of total coliforms. Surface water containing coliforms above
2000 per 100mL is considered to be highly polluted. Sinha
(1986) and Bala et al., (1994) reported that high count of
coliform bacteria in water is due to contamination from faecal
and sewage sources. Similar observations have also been made
by Khan et al., (2002) and Rawat and Jakher (2007). High
coliform bacterial count in both the lake water was possibly
due to rich nutrient load of the lake water and contamination
from sewage and run off water.

Table 1: Mean ±SD values of physicochemical and microbiological parameters of Vani Vihar and Nicco Park lakes
Parameters. L1 Vanivihar L2 Vanivihar L3 Vanivihar L4 Nicco L5 Nicco park L6 Nicco park L7 Nicco Park
Lake (inlet) (within lake) Lake(outlet) park (inlet) (after treatment) (Jetty area) (outlet near Dam)
Temp.°C 36±4.8 32.2±2.06 37±1.19 37±2.09 37.2±1.89 37.4±1.23 37±1.19
pH 7.41±0.1 7.25±0.01 7.59±0.02 7.26±0.01 7.46±0.03 8.03±0.04 7.61±0.02
DO mg/L 4.9±0.1 4.3±0.02 4.1±0.01 1.3±0.01 3±0.002 4.6±0.02 5.2±0.01
BODmg/L 12±08 18±11 50±10 60±12 28±05 46±10 50±11
COD mg/L 48±10 60±12 120±23 240±22 64±23 92±24 150±26
NO 3mg/L 0.815±0.01 0.623±0.02 0.347±0.01 0.823±0.02 0.784±0.03 1.28±0.04 1.145±0.01
PO4 mg/L 1. 51±1.2 1.61±2.3 2.38± 2.1 4.72±1.1 1.57±1.0 1.34±0.1 1.44±0.01
Cl mg/L 64.07±8.4 74.08±9.4 86.09±11.3 56.06±7.4 60.06±7.1 60.07±11.3 56.06±9.3
Alkalinity (mg/L) 72±14.3 56±13.2 100±26.5 136±36.7 152±32.34 88±34.2 100±33.1
Total Hardness (mg/L) 40±10 40±12 40±11 40±14 28±9 48±8.9 58±9.8
Ca.Hardness (mg/L) 32±11 32±13 32±12 36±12 20±11 32±13 48±15
Mg.Hardness (mg/L) 8±0.12 8±0.23 8±0.14 4±0.14 8±0.23 16±0.21 4±0.13
Turbidity(NTU) 10.1±1.1 14.5±1.2 13.2±1.0 27±2.1 38±2.2 53.5±8.4 26.4±2.3
Sulphate mg/L 11.3±2.5 12.22±1.2 15.03±3.2 13.08±2.3 11.96±4.2 12.32±2.4 11.56±1.2
Na ppm 17±2.3 24±2.4 22±3.4 30±4.5 34±2.3 23±3.4 33±2.3
Kppm 5±0.2 5±0.11 6±0.2 10±0.13 9±0.12 9±0.1 9±0.21
TDS mg/L 278±35 216±24 305±34 390±43 435±44 480±44 300±28
TSS mg/L 70±10 6±2 85±11 146±20 52±11 56±23 68±22
TFS mg/L 340±21 222±23 390±22 536±43 487±23 536±34 366±52
TC MPN/100 mL 1,60,000±34 ³1,60,000±56 1,60,000±54 ³1,60,000±54 1,60,000±67 1,60,000±89 1,60,000±91
FC MPN/100 mL 30,000±89 90,000±87 90,000±56 ³1,60,000±78 30,000±89 50,000±34 30,000±52
Conductivity 526±32 412±33 583±34 765±32 749±21 783±39 850±46
µmho/cm
Ammonical 19.8±3.5 11.2±3.2 21±1.5 20.72±3.2 11.76±1.2 10.64±2.3 10.08±2.1
nitrogen mg/L
Total Fe mg/L 0.237±0.12 0.325±0.1 0.963±0.2 0.391±0.3 0.8±0.12 0.215±0.2 0.325±0.1

290

CONCLUSION
The study clearly indicates that both the lakes are poorly
managed and show signs of organic pollution. Following steps
are urgently needed to make the lake water suitable for
consumption. Complete check or diversion of municipal
sewage water entering directly into the lake without treatment.
Dumping of garbage in the lake water by local people should
be discouraged. Suitable scavengers, such as species of
zooplankton and phytoplankton need to be introduced in to
the lakes which would help in biological control of
eutrophication.
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