Investigation and Assessment of Water Quality Index of River Salandi at Hadagada Dam and Its Down Stream upto Akhandalmani, Bhadrak, Odisha, India

After going through Hadagada dam, Agarpada, and Bhadrak town, the river Salandi joins the river Baitarani near Akhandalmani, the Tinitar Ghat. Forest runoff, untreated and semi-treated mining wastes, agricultural wastes, Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) industrial wastes, and urban wastes are all collected during the journey. Water samples were collected from nine different stations in the summer (April and May), rainy (August), post-rainy (October), and winter (December) of 2015, and physico-chemical and bacteriological parameters were examined using standard protocols. The weighted arithmetic index approach was used to determine the water quality index (WQI) of river Salandi using the mean values of twelve significant parameters over the course of the year. The water quality index (WQI) reveals that water quality varies by monitoring station, with good water quality at Hadagada Dam, Satabhauni, and Dhusuri, poor water quality at Akhandalmani & very poor water quality at Bidyadharapur, very poor and unfit for drinking water at Agarpada, Randia (FACOR), and Baudpur, and river water of class ‘C' at Rajghat. The river after passing Bhadrak town is free from pollution. It is due to dilution and by natural processes where the pollutants are stabilized.