Q ST QUA TAT ALIT US O TY IN OF W N IN WA NDIA ATER A- 2 R ...

CHAPTER XIIWater Quality of Rivers in Brahmani & Baitarni Basin12.1 Brahmani and Baitarni River SystemThe Brahmani-Baitarani basin extends over an area of 51,822 sq km. Lying in thenortheast of the Deccan Plateau, the basin covers large areas in the States ofOrissa and Jharkhand and a small area in Chattisgarh. The Chhotanagpur Plateauon the west and south bound the basin on the north by the ridge separating it fromthe Mahanadi basin, and on the east by the Bay of Bengal. The Brahmani subbasincovers an area of 39,033 sq km while the Baitarani sub-basin covers an areaof 12,789 sq km. The Brahmani known as the South Koel, in the upper reaches,rises near Nagri village in the Ranchi district of Jharkhand State. The total lengthof the river from the head to its outfall into the Bay of Bengal is 799 km of which258 km is in Jharkhand and 541 km is in Orissa. The Baitarni river rises in the hillranges of Keonjhar district of Orissa at an elevation of about 900 meters and has alength of about 355 km. Both the rivers outfall in the Bay of Bengal, forming acommon delta. The important tributaries of Brahmani are, the Karo, the Sankhand the Tirka and those of Baitarni are the Salandi and the Matai.The industrial complex of Angul Talcher has been identified as a criticallypolluted area in the Brahmani basin. The wasteweaters generated form theindustries Viz, NALCO, TTPS etc. and mining operations are primarilyresponsible for deterioration of water quality of Nandira River which is a tributarystream of Brahmani river. Detailed survey of this stretch has been carried out andthe action plans have been formulated to improve the water quality of this stretch.The basin area of Brahmani and Baitarni is covering the States of Jharkhand, andOrissa.The important urban centres in these States are Rourkela in Orissa; andGumia in Jharkhand.12.2 Water Quality Monitoring in Brahmani and Baitarni BasinThe water quality monitoring of the River Brahmani and Baitarni & its tributariesis being done by the State Pollution Control Boards of Jharkhand and Orissa at 31locations. There are sixteen (16) monitoring locations on the main stream of RiverBrahmani, five on Baitarni, one each on tributaries Karo, Kusei & Sankh, two onKharasrota and five on Koel. The ranges of water quality observed in RiverBrahmani and its tributaries with respect to Temperature, pH, DO, Conductivity,BOD, Nitrate +Nitrite, Total Coliform (TC) and Faecal Coliform (FC) arepresented as minimum, maximum and mean value to assess the extent of waterquality variation throughout the year.101