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

CHAPTER XVIWater Quality of Rivers in Penneru Basin16.1 Penneru River SystemThe Penneru basin extends over an area of 55,213 sq km. Located in PeninsularIndia, it covers areas in the States of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The totallength of the river from the head to its outfall into the sea is 597 km of whichabout 61 km are in Karnataka and the balance of 536 km is in Andhra Pradesh.The principal tributaries of the river are the Jayamangali, the Kunderu & theSagilery from left and the Chitravati, the Papagni & the Cheyyeru from right.The Penneru River has the lowest average flow, due to low annual averagerainfall. The meagre water wealth of the basin has been utilized only for limitedirrigational use, and additional support had to be obtained from the adjoiningRiver Krishna through the Kurnool-Cuddapah (K.C.) and Tungabhadra canals.The Penneru and its tributaries do not have enough flow to support directabstraction for larger towns so; infiltration-wells are used for most of the riversidetowns. Only Nandyal town abstracts from the K.C. canal.Major industries situated on the banks of the Penneru River are Paper Mills, StrawBoard and Sugar industry. The pollution abatement measures like sewagetreatment plants for treating municipal wastewater and effluent treatment plantsfor industries should be established so that indiscriminate discharge of raweffluent directly into the river body shall not interfere with the designated bestuses of the river Penneru.The basin area of Penneru is covering the States of Karnataka and AndhraPradesh. The important urban centres in Andhra Pradesh are Proddatur, Hindupur,Anantapur, Cuddapah, Nellore, Nandyal, Dharmavarm, Kadiri, Madanapalle,Rayachoti and Tadipatri.16.2 Water Quality Monitoring in Penneru BasinThe water quality monitoring of the River Penneru are being done in the basin bythe State Pollution Control Board of Andhra Pradesh at 5 locations. Themonitoring locations are on mainstream of River Penneru (5). The ranges of waterquality observed in Penneru Basin with respect to Temperature, pH, DO,Conductivity, BOD, Nitrate, Nitrite, Total Coliform (TC) and Faecal Coliform(FC) are presented as minimum, maximum and mean value to assess the extent ofwater quality variation throughout the year.125