A Comparative Assessment and Decision-Making Approach of Water Quality Evaluation of Mahanadi Basin, Odisha

Abstract

The Mahanadi River is one of Odisha's biggest rivers and is vital to the region's ecosystem and economy. Rapid water use, however, causes significant water contamination. However, the primary goal of this study is to assess surface water using the Critic Water Quality Index (CWQI), with a goal of collecting 20 samples from 19 monitoring stations over the course of a year (2021-2022). Inverted Distance Weighted (IDW) in ArcGIS 10.5 was used to create the spatial distribution maps. Multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDMs), such as MOORA, were developed to offer a reliable and impartial portrayal of the cumulative pollution levels of each sample location. The physicochemical results were categorized in accordance with WHO drinking water threshold levels. The range of the CWQI value for surface water quality, which represents the excellent to very poor categories, was determined to be 36 to 290.8. It demonstrates that 84.21% of samples fit into the best drinking groups. Using the MOORA-recommended assessment scores, the Paradeep (St. 9) was discovered to be the most polluting site in contrast to other places, followed by 2nd (Cuttack D/s) and 3rd (Choudwar D/s). The factors responsible of the decline in water quality at St. 8, 9 and 19, respectively, were found to be runoff from waste material, unprocessed effluents, and several other anthropogenic factors. The paper's detailed discussion of water quality methods can also give readers a general understanding of indexing for further study.