Assessment of Drinking Water Quality Status by Water Quality Index: A Case Study of Jharipani Waterfall, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India

Water is one of the most valuable and essential natural resources for sustenance of life on earth and for any developmental activity. Water resources, being exploited from time to time, may become short of supply or may not be easily available at any site. Surface water is commonly present with different degrees of availability and distribution of the earth. There has been an increase in surface water management and utilization for agriculture, domestic, industry and rural supply schemes for the development of nations. Increasing consumption of water resources due to anthropogenic influences on urban, industrial and agricultural needs and erratic precipitation due to metrological changes greatly degrade water sources. In this study, Water Quality Index (WQI) of Jharipani waterfall, Mussoorie was analyzed with the ten physicochemical parameters such as alkalinity, calcium, chloride, electrical conductivity, magnesium, nitrate, pH, sulfate, total dissolved solid and total hardness to know the suitability for drinking purpose during pre and post monsoon seasons of the year 2022. The value of calcium and total dissolved solid which exceeded the permissible limit during pre-monsoon seasons but average during post monsoon season. The calculated Water Quality Index values are 83.371 during pre-monsoon season and 74.599 during post monsoon season. This water quality rating study clearly shows that, the status of the water body is not suitable for drinking. According to Standard Rating of Water Quality, it is very poor in pre monsoon season and poor in post monsoon season and not healthy for drinking purpose.