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Impact of throughfall deposition and its runoff through different land use surfaces on the chemistry of Ganga water, Varanasi

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Abstract

The study was conducted to understand the influence of interactions of atmospheric deposition with different land use surfaces and change in water chemistry of river Ganga through changes in runoff water quality. Four different land use surfaces in the catchment of the river Ganga, namely cemented, open fallow land, woodland and grassland were selected for data comparison. The results indicated that although some woody perennials showed throughfall enrichment in response to atmospheric deposition, catchment vegetation invariably reduced the runoff flushing of heavy metals and nutrient ions to the Ganga river. Grassland absorbed the metals 1.5–2.2 times more effectively than other land use surfaces and the same was observed 2.0–2.5 times more effective for nutrients. In the present study, DOC input through runoff varied with site and land use ‘type’, for metal and nutrient ions. The trend of DOC was almost opposite as it was for metals and nutrients with respect to site and land use pattern. The lowest DOC was recorded at Rajghat downstream site for cemented land use (1.900 mg/L) in the first runoff. The concentration of DOC increased in rest of the runoff. This has relevance as far as carbon capture, storage, and transport to riverine systems is concerned. It is suggested that extensive plantation in the river catchment would be an effective approach for reducing runoff fluxes of toxic metals and nutrient ions to the Ganga river coming from atmospheric sources. It will slow down the process of eutrophication and direct contamination with toxic metals. This management process will be highly effective for the sustainability of the dying river Ganga.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Head, Institute of Environment & Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University for laboratory facilities. One of the authors (Dr Richa Pandey) is grateful to the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi for financial support under the Women Scientists Scheme-A (WOS-A).

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  1. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Richa Pandey & Akhilesh Singh Raghubanshi

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  1. Richa Pandey
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  2. Akhilesh Singh Raghubanshi
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Correspondence to Richa Pandey.

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Pandey, R., Raghubanshi, A.S. Impact of throughfall deposition and its runoff through different land use surfaces on the chemistry of Ganga water, Varanasi. Limnology 23, 111–125 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-021-00672-0

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