Water Quality Assessment of River Beas During Winter Season in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Present investigation was carried out in 256 km stretch of river Beas in Himachal Pradesh for analysis of important physical, chemical and biological water quality parameters during winter season. Parameters such as temperature, pH, conductivity, turbidity, alkalinity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, chloride, fluoride, nitrate, biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), Colliform and Escherichia coli were analyzed from six sampling stations i.e. Beaskund , Shamshi, Pandohdam, Dharampur, Nadaun and Pongdam in the study area. The analysis of data reveals that turbidity, cadmium and lead, were found to be higher than the acceptable limit prescribed by Bureau of Indian standards (BIS), 2012 for drinking water in India. Colliform and E.coli were present in all the sampling stations of river Beas except at SS-1 and SS-2. All the other physicochemical parameters excepting pH at SS-5 (8.98±0.057) were within the limit prescribed by World Health Organization (WHO), 2011 and BIS, 2012 for drinking water in India.