Abstract

HEAVY METALS LOAD AND ITS IMPACT ON SURFACE WATER QUALITY OF VAIGAI RIVER NEAR MADURI CITY

*M. Chandran, M. Mumtaz, Thiuvalluvan and R. Mangaleshwari

ABSTRACT

Vaigai river is the main water source for the four districts namely Theni, Madurai, Dindugal, Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram of southern Tamilnadu, India. The river is highly polluted with innumerable kinds of xenobiotics including heavy metals. In the recent years, the Vaigai river is immensely contaminated with toxic metals due to anthropogenic input by rapid urbanization and industrialization. Hence, the present study is intended to evaluate water quality in terms of heavy metals load and plankton diversity in twenty sample sites located in upstream and downstream of Vaigai river in and around Madurai. From this study, it is inferred that overall water quality in close proximity to city is found to be unfit for drinking and irrigation purpose.

Keywords: Heavy Metal Index, Vaigai River, Madurai City, Contamination degree.