River Narmada in Madhya Pradesh and Heavy Metal Poisoning of Fish

Abstract

As the biggest west-flowing river in Madhya Pradesh, the Narmada (also spelt Rewa) is also one of India's three holiest rivers. In the Maikal hillocks, which are located in the eastern highlands of the Vidhyas Mountains, the river's source is said to be at a height of 1051 metres, according to the Gazetteer of Hoshangabad (1979). In the Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh, it is close to Amarkantak. When thinking about fish farming, it's important to examine the water's physical, chemical, and biological properties. To effectively manage fish populations, one must have a thorough grasp of water quality. Researchers in the Narmada River took water samples from four different locations and analysed them for physicochemical characteristics and heavy metal content. The following variables were recorded: thermal, pH, salinity, electrical conductivity, chemical oxygen demand, and biological oxygen demand. In every one of the locations tested, Mn and Zn were found. Interestingly, levels were much higher in three of these places compared to the World Health Organization's advised limit of less than 0.500 mg/L for manganese. The amounts of Cr and Cd were greater than the norms in two of the three samples. All of the samples tested negative for lead, and in two of the locations, the copper levels were also below the acceptable range. The following categories were used to categorise the physicochemical properties that were studied: Various factors that make up environmental conditions include temperature (C), pH (ranging from 5.8 to 8.2), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (0.3-20 mg/L), total dissolved solids (TDS) (37-249) (26-29 mg/L), electrical conductivity (EC) (73.67-498 µS/cm), total hardness (0.8-5.7 mg/L), salinity (0.03-0.22 psu), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) (2.9-9.7 mg/L). Most of these metrics were within what the World Health Organisation considers to be acceptable ranges. The results imply that high metal loads in water may impact people and fish in the long term, hence it is critical to regularly assess water quality.