Assessment of rainwater quality in industrial area of rural Panipat (Haryana), India

Abstract

This study was conducted in Panipat industrial area for the evaluation rain water quality and indirectly the air pollution load created by industries in the vicinity. The rain water quality of first rain was assessed for the evaluation of air pollution load of region. Selected physico-chemical characteristics like temperature, pH (6.23-6.85), TDS (105-187 mg L^-1), DO (4.2-5.6 mg L^-1), Free CO₂  (0.8 mg L^-1), Pb (0.09 mg L^-1), Fe (0.085-0.132 mg L^-1), sulphate (121.2-131.8 mg L^-1), silica (3.51-7.26 mg L^-1), turbidity (11-19 NTU), total hardness (81-120 mg L^-1), chloride (3.20-6.75 mg L^-1), BOD (2-4 mg L^-1), and COD (14-31 mg L^-1) were detected for the evaluation of pollution load in rainwater. The present study revealed that the water quality of first rain was found highly polluted in comparison to second rain. The difference between first heavy rain and second rain was found significant and in favour of increasing air pollution in the industrial area. The trace amount of chloride, silica, lead, iron, sulphate, free carbon dioxide was found in first heavy rain of the region while in the second rain all these were found in very less quantity. The difference in the concentrations of pollutants in rainwater gives the basic idea about the air pollution load of the vicinity. In fact, this is a novel technique to monitor air pollution load of any particular area using rainwater quality monitoring.