Spatiotemporal variation of water quality and assessment of pollution potential in Paradip port due to port activities

Abstract

Present study focused on the evaluation of spatial and temporal variation in different bio-physicochemical parameters at ten different locations inside port harbour by applying statistical and multivariate approaches. Various physico-chemical parameters along with chlorophyll-<i>a</i>, phytoplankton, total viable and coliform bacteria were analysed for the harbour water throughout the year. Seasonal changes responsible for temporal variations were observed during monsoon, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon. Noticeable spatial variation was found due to port’s ongoing activities mainly at Iron ore handling berth, South Quay, East Quay, ADB-Coal berth, General cargo berth and Fertiliser berth. From the cluster and correlation analysis, greater inter dependency are found among the variables like phytoplankton, chlorophyll-<i>a</i>, PO₄, NO₃, NH₃, TSS, Cr, DO, BOD and pH.