Studies on treatment of polluted Yamuna river water by electrochemical process

Very expensive water treatment technologies are not capable for the treatment of polluted Yamuna river water and the conventional water processes based on chemical, filtration and/or biological treatment process are also not suitable to remove TDS. Generally untreated wastewater contains high level of organic and inorganic materials, numerous pathogenic microorganisms, nutrients and many other toxic compounds. Delhi has been suffering the problems of increasing amount of sewage water and industrial effluents into Yamuna river for the last few decades due to horizontal and vertical expansion of the city. Yamuna river is main source of water to well qualified, high populated Delhi peoples and Agra canal originated from Okhala barrage. In the present study the impact of urban runoff on the water quality of Yamuna River at Delhi has been investigated which supplies into Agra canal for irrigation purposes. Water samples were collected from five different points and analyzed for various physicochemical parameters such as pH, total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), Total Hardness (TH), total alkalinity (TA), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Chloride, Sulphate, nitrate, toxic metals and Microbial Population (MP) levels. Electrochemical technique was successfully applied to the treatment of each sample and the concentration of selected parameters reduced considerably to the admissible limit. Experimental results reported that drastic variations were found in each water samples after treatment. Indicating water pollution levels was manifold higher than the prescribe limit by the pollution control authorities for irrigation. Overall, the study concluded that water quality of Yamuna river water was very poor and not suitable for irrigation or any other purposes.