Quality of drinking water in the Darrang district with particular reference to Mangaldai subdivision

Abstract

The thesis consists of four chapters under the broad headings of (1) Introduction (2) The study area (3) Materials and Methods (4) Results and Discussion and a bibliography. The following objectives have been formulated for this study : a) to monitor the quality of drinking water in the Darrang district with particular reference to Mangaldai sub-division. b) to identify the principal contaminants of a wide range of drinking water sources. c) to correlate, if possible, the principal contaminants with common ailments in the district and d) to arrive at some overall conclusions regarding the water environment in the district. The introductory chapter, Chapter 1, gives an introductory note on water - the life sustaining system, also gives a review of the published literature pertaining to the topic, particularly the quality of drinking water and its impact on the environment. The factors affecting the drinking water quality have been briefly enumerated and the problems of maintaining drinking water quality in rural as well as urban areas have been reviewed. The water quality situation in India has been briefly described. It is being pointed out that the water quality monitoring and assessment is still in its infancy in the North-Eastern region of India and this work would be of help to fulfill some of the gaps in the overall environmental database for the region. Chapter 2, The study area, gives a general description of the location and other characteristics of the study areas. It gives a brief description on the historical background of the district, its geographical setting, drainage and waterbody systems, climatic conditions, rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, soil, land use pattern, agriculture, population and industries in the district. Chapter 3, Materials and Methods, gives the details of experimental methodology followed in this work. It includes the collection of samples and storage, sampling sources, selection of sampling seasons and water quality parameters. Forty sampling stations were taken which...