An Appraisal of the Mayurakshi River System Water Quality – the Agrarian Basin

Abstract

The Mayurakshi River system is an important interstate river system in India, and is widely exploited for various purposes. A preliminary assessment of the water quality of the Mayurakshi system, at eleven strategically selected locations in the West Bengal (India), was carried out. Most of the water quality parameters were found to be within the regulatory limits of the recommended standards and other indices, including water quality index (WQI). The WQI values varied from 70.45 to 84.09, and designated the Mayurakshi system ecologically in the range of good water quality type. Agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis (AHCA) grouped the sampling sites into three clusters based on river water utilization criteria: degree of domestic use, agricultural practices, and fisheries. The study showed the utility of AHCA in decreasing the number of sampling sites and increasing the efficacy of continuous monitoring of the Mayurakshi basin. Overall the basin water quality was found ecologically sustainable with limited anthropogenic impact on the river water environment.

Ichthyofaunal diversity of Mayurakshi River at Birbhum District, West Bengal, India

“…In the present study, report of a few uncommon genera and species including discovery of new species from Mayurakshi River indicates healthy sustainable environment for survivability of fish species. This can be endorsed by the study of Ghosh et al [29] who showed that limited humaninfluenced disturbance of the water quality of the Mayurakshi riverine system. On the basis of utilization criteria of the river water viz.…”

“…On the basis of utilization criteria of the river water viz. degree of domestic use, agricultural practices and fisheries, the water quality of this river was found ecologically sustainable with self-purification capacity [29] . Though in recent years, illegal sand mining in the river bed poses a great threat in the natural flow of the river and in some area, it changes the natural habitat and niche of the small fishes.…”