Comparative Assessment of Physicochemical Water Quality Across Urban and Semi-Urban Stretches of the Ganga River in Kanpur, India

AbstractThe present study investigates the physicochemical water quality of the Ganga River across threeecologically and anthropogenically distinct sites—Atal Ghat, Ganga Barrage, and ParmathGhat—in the Kanpur region of India. A comprehensive set of parameters including temperature,pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO),biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total hardness,alkalinity, nitrate-N, and nitrite-N were analyzed to assess spatial pollution gradients. Resultsrevealed that Ganga Barrage consistently exhibited elevated levels of TDS (422 ± 10 mg/L), EC(648 ± 12 μS/cm), BOD5 (4.6 ± 0.3 mg/L), COD (156 ± 4 mg/L), nitrate (2.4 ± 0.2 mg/L), andnitrite (0.38 ± 0.03 mg/L), indicating significant organic and nutrient loading likely due to urbanrunoff, industrial discharge, and restricted flow dynamics at the barrage. In contrast, Atal Ghatand Parmath Ghat displayed comparatively lower pollutant loads, though still reflected moderateecological stress. One-way ANOVA confirmed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) inseveral parameters across sites, particularly for BOD5, COD, nitrate, hardness, and alkalinity.The novelty of this study lies in its integrated, site-specific evaluation using triplicate data withstandard deviations, enhancing the resolution of pollution profiling. These findings underscorethe need for localized river management strategies and reinforce the importance of continuousmonitoring to support the goals of the Namami Gange Programme and sustainable riverecosystem health.