Impacts of Anthropogenic and Tourism Activities on River Water Quality

Abstract

A study of the water quality assessment of the Betwa River stretch was conducted in order to explore the detrimental effects of assorted anthropogenic and visitors' activities on the river. The religious tourism activities are the main type of tourism activities explored under the study in context to India. Samples were collected during May 2014 (pre-monsoon) to December 2015 (post-monsoon) period. Twelve different physicochemical parameters were collected through primary data and field investigations, while the bacteriological parameters like total coliform and fecal coliform levels were analyzed through secondary data, except biochemical oxygen demand. The results suggest that the seasonal and spatial variations are significantly different. The results also conclude that the chloride, nitrite, phosphate, COD, nitrate, and BOD as evaluated using PCA extraction method shows a higher degree of positive correlation in a component which indicates anthropogenic and industrial impacts on water quality.