Preliminary studies of surface water quality in Damodar River basin (West Bengal, India)

The purpose of the research was to study the main parameters of the chemical composition of surface water and its quality in the Damodar River basin near the Durgapur city where the surface water is used for water supply of the local community. During fieldwork water of the Damodar River, its tributaries (Tamla River and small streams - receivers of industrial wastewater and drainage water) and the Maithon Reservoir was sampled from the layer 0.1-0.5 m. Preliminary studies have shown that the main pollutants in the study area are organic compounds, ammonium, phosphate and fluoride ions. Deterioration of water quality in some sampling points is connected with a low content of dissolved oxygen and high concentrations of nitrite, chloride and sulfate ions