Parametric Evaluation and Classification of Water in Punjab, India

Nature's driving force "Water" is essential to humans and pure water is the foremost medicine that leads to healthy living. But this free of cost medicine is rarely available to people of Punjab state, India. Punjab is the land of fertile plains but to obtain better crop yield, intensive agricultural activities are performed that prompted the usage of pesticides and fertilizers which eventually add up in water whereas sewage and industrial disposal is another factor affecting water quality of Punjab. This paramount concern had encouraged to pay heed to evaluate water quality in Punjab state. In this paper, eight potential water parameters namely Temperature, PH, Dissolved oxygen, Conductivity, Biochemical oxygen demand, Nitrite, Total Coliform, Fecal Coliform are used to highlight the prevailing status of water quality in Punjab. The permissible limits of the contaminants are delineated. To exhibit surface water contamination crisis, sampled report having past thirteen year data of 37 spots across four major rivers (Beas, Ghaggar, Sutlej, Ravi) and a lake (Harike Lake) in Punjab has been used. Neuro-fuzzy Technique is used to classify input parametric data into five water quality classes. It has been concluded that Ghaggar river is most polluted and Ravi river is least polluted among four major rivers of Punjab. Latest status reports released by officials, government authorities are delineated in this paper.