WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS OF MULA RIVER ON THE UPSTREAM SIDE OF PUNE CITY

Mula is one of the major rivers passing through the city of Pune. A number of researchers have worked on quality of river water within the city limits. However, not much is reported about the quality of water before it enters the city at Balewadi. On the upstream side of Balewadi, the river water is used by the inhabitants of villages located on its banks for domestic and agricultural purposes, without any regular treatment. This would put them at direct health risk if river water quality is not good. Hence, it is imperative to learn about the quality of water in these upstream areas. The present study focuses on physico-chemical analysis of Mula River water before it enters the Pune city. Water samples were collected from four locations covering a span of 16 – 17 km and parameters including pH, alkalinity, conductivity, hardness, TS, TDS, BOD, COD, nitrates and phosphates were analysed. This paper presents the river water quality data during September 2017 to February201