Surface water quality and health risk assessment of Kameng river (Assam, India)

Present study evaluated the surface water quality of Kameng River (Assam, India). Kameng River is the tributary of the river Brahmaputra, having its confluence at its north bank. Water samples were collected from 9 different locations along the stretch and 24 parameters were analysed. Water quality at all sampling sites was expressed in terms of overall index of pollution (OIP). The OIP of all sampling sites varied between 1.30 and 1.74. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the latent factors influencing the water quality of the river. PCA revealed that domestic wastewater and agricultural runoff were the leading sources causing adulteration of the river’s water quality. The degree of contamination of each sampling site due to heavy metals was calculated by the contamination index and an associated human health risk assessment was done by computing average daily intake and Hazard quotient (HQ). The HQ of all sampling sites varied from 0.14 to 1.21. This work presents the reliability and practicability of the integrated use of these approaches in river water quality monitoring and assessment. These methods will be very useful for policy makers for assessing the cause and effect of pollution of water bodies and implementing policies to keep pollution under check.