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Physicochemical Parameters and Their Seasonal Dynamics: Special Reference to Riverine Networks of South West Bengal, India

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Riverine Ecology Volume 1

Abstract

Settlement of human population and initiation of different developmental activities such as establishment of living places and development of small and even large industries have been taken place around rivers and other large water bodies, in order to meet up the demands of fresh water for drinking, agriculture, fishing, recreation, and for transportation as evident since the time of commencement of human civilization. The judicial utilization of the existing freshwater resources in the present world has become a major problem with different magnitudes. The term “water quality” denotes the acceptability of water for various purposes based on its suitability for direct and indirect human consumption. It embraces all phases of the hydrological cycle from precipitation imputes through terrestrial surfaces and groundwater system to the marine environment into which freshwater runoff ultimately reaches. The development of an ecological state having good qualities of water is reflected through the maintenance and preservation of the soundness of ecosystem health of the aquatic systems.

Several inland water bodies such as lakes, streams, and rivers have visible structures based on their morphometry, drainage basins, geomorphology, and physicochemical parameters (pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, etc.). All those ecological variables are regulated by several other macroclimatic processes such as precipitation, intensity of sunlight, wind flow, waves, and currents resulting in diurnal and seasonal variations. This chapter has dealt with characteristics and significance of major ecological parameters of riverine system citing case studies of the riverine networks from South West Bengal, India, alongside highlighting the water qualities of a couple of other major rivers in India, and their roles and influence in determining ecosystem health of freshwater systems in general and physicochemical parameters of rivers in particular.

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  1. Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India

    Susanta Kumar Chakraborty

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Chakraborty, S.K. (2021). Physicochemical Parameters and Their Seasonal Dynamics: Special Reference to Riverine Networks of South West Bengal, India. In: Riverine Ecology Volume 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53897-2_7

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