Ecological Impact Assessment for Drawl of Water for Industrial Use : A Case Study of River Wainganga

The study has attempted to assess ecological impact for drawl of water for industrial usage from river Wainganga comprising of producers (viz., Planktons, Periphytons, Macrophytes) and consumers like benthic organisms and fishes, reptiles, amphibians and birds. For the purpose, the study analysed the diversity and load of phytoplankton and zooplankton of river Wainganga. Furthermore, Species Diversity, which measures the bio-diversity and heterogeneity of aquatic ecosystem, was calculated based on the Shanon Weiner’s function. Now, species diversity of a community has 2 components: (i) species richness, and (ii) species evenness. To calculate species evenness, Pielou’s Index of equitability was used. The study further explored the presence of periphytons, macrobenthos, aquatic/semiaquatic macrophytes, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, water birds, etc. in Wainganga river. Finally, based on the threat assessment, the study has envisaged essential actions to restore the ecological balance of the river Wainganga. Considering the scenario of likely impacts for drawl of water for industrial usage from the river, it was explored that there will be no major negative impacts on the ecology, as only 70 MCM water annually have been allocated for industrial usage. Furthermore, as ecological cycle has a self-regulating mechanism, therefore it is hoped that possibility of having minor impacts on the ecological environment of the River Wainganga shall be naturally mitigated with time.