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The present study evaluates and characterizes the water quality of River Tawi in Jammu city of Union Territory of JK, using water quality index, multivariate statistical methods, and geospatial techniques. Water quality parameters were measured at fourteen selected sites along a 12 km (approx.) stretch of river (passing through the city) over two seasons (pre-monsoon and post-monsoon) using standard methods. Water quality index (WQI) results demonstrated spatial and temporal variations and the pollution level of the river increased from upstream to downstream sites. Calculated WQI revealed 35.71% of the water samples in the unfit for drinking category, 28.57% in good and poor category each, and 7.14% samples in very poor drinking water category during the study period. Comparison of analysis results with the drinking water standards prescribed by the World Health Organization and Bureau of Indian standards recorded elevated ranges of parameters like turbidity, BOD, total alkalinity, nitrate, and faecal coliform beyond the permissible limits. Hierarchical cluster analysis has transformed the sites into two clusters during pre-monsoon and three clusters during post-monsoon season indicating more water quality variation during post-monsoon season. Principal component analysis resulted in two PCs for the water quality, explaining 80.827% and 73.672% of the variance for pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. The prepared WQI maps confirmed and depicted deterioration of river water quality towards the midstream and downstream sites of the river basin. Entry of major sewage drains from the city particularly at the midstream sites and dumping of solid waste and agricultural runoff towards the downstream sites of the river constituted the main anthropogenic sources that decreased the river water quality. The study establishes first step towards spatial zoning of River Tawi based on pollution level which would help in improving the river water quality through proper basin management. The study also recommends installation of sewage treatment plants particularly at the midstream and downstream sites.

Fluoride(F-) is the 13thmost abundant chemical element in the Earth's crust which has been widely recognised for its health benefits at low concentration but poses a serious threat to public health at very high doses. The world health organization has set the fluoride guideline limit of 1.5 mg/l in drinking water. Globally, over 260 million people drink water with high fluoride concentrations. Widespread distribution and high fluoride levels in the potablewater in most of the areas of the world has prompted substantial research and mitigation efforts to address the growing public health concerns related to fluoride contamination. With the recent advances in science, various defluoridation methods such as adsorption, ion exchange, precipitation-coagulation, membrane processes, biological defluoridation and even integrated approaches have been developed for the management of fluoride-contaminated aquatic environments. This review provides an up-to-date insight into thedefluoridation techniques developed and implemented throughout the world and highlightsthe advantages and disadvantages of each technique.The literature survey confirms that despite developing so many novel techniques for defluoridation over the years, there is still no effective fluoride removal technique that can achieve the desired results in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. Therefore, development of a commercially practical, economical, and sustainable technique is required to prevent people especially the most vulnerable from poor and developing nations (dependent on untreated water)from the hazards of fluoride contamination.

The present ecological investigation communicates the macrophytic diversity of six wetlands of Jammu region comprising of three lacustrine wetlands viz. Surinsar, Mansar and Sanasar and three riverine wetlands i.e., Gharana, Kukarian and Pargwal. A total of 43 macrophytic species belonging to 34 genera and 24 families with 30 monocot species and 13 dicots were recorded, thereby showing the dominance of monocot flora. Among various ecological groups, emergent with 22 species showed qualitative dominance over submersed (13 species) and rooted floatingleaved types=free-floating types (4 species each). The present study revealed that there is no well-marked variation in the macrophytic groups among the studied wetlands and mostly mixed distribution was observed. Maximum macrophytic diversity was recorded in Mansar wetland (26) followed by Pargwal (22), Surinsar (16), Gharana (14), Kukarian (14) and Sanasar (11). The present study provides a baseline information on the macropytes of wetlands for subsequent research on the vital aspects of these aquatic ecosystems and would be helpful in planning management strategies.

In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the drinking water quality status of various surface and ground water sources and the supplied water from two water filtration plants supplying drinking water to Doda town and its adjoining areas by using Arithmetic Water Quality Index (WQI) and geospatial mapping techniques. Doda is fluoride endemic district of Jammu and Kashmir State where groundwater fluoride concentration upto 7.0 mg/L is recorded. Water samples collected from about twenty two drinking water sources from two blocks of Doda district (Bhagwah and Doda blocks) were analyzed at pre-determined locations marked using handheld GPS(Montana 650). These locations formed the attribute database for the study based on which fluoride distribution maps have been derived and integrated with Arithmetic WQI through Inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation technique. Prepared thematic maps have confirmed the vulnerability of the drinking water sources and water supply systems in the study area, thus, posing a serious public health concern. Based on the WQI, water quality status of Beoli filtration plant (WQI=43.26) falls under the category of good water whereas that of Moochan filtration plant (WQI=157.41) has been classified as unfit for drinking. The geochemical evolution of the water studied using Piper’s diagram has shown mixed type of hydrochemical facies. Coefficient of correlation(r) between different parameters has indicated significant correlation between several parameters. The study urges the concerned government authorities to make provisions for providing safe drinking water to public which is free of turbidity and low in fluoride concentration.

Phytoplankton investigation of a sub-tropical Lake Mansar has revealed a total of 92 species belonging to Chlorophyceae (57 spp.), Bacillariophyceae (20 spp.), Cyanophyceae (11 spp.), Dinophyceae (2spp.) and Euglenophyceae (2 spp.). Perennial Chlorophyceae was recorded to be the most occurred group throughout the study period. Palmer algal genus and species pollution index was used to monitor the health of Mansar Lake. The total scores of 36 for algal genus and 16 for algal species have shown organic pollution of the lake. Thus, phytoplankton can be considered as good bio-indicator for assessing the health of the Lake. Present observations showed that the lake is a highly productive water body, facing pollution problems and is approaching towards eutrophication due to the presence of high number of pollution indicator species of algae. Conservation strategies of the lake must take cognizance to protect it from further deterioration.

In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the water quality changes in River Tawi water treated at Sitlee water treatment plant, and supplied for drinking to Old Jammu City, Jammu, J&K, India. Water samples from the treated water unit of Sitlee water treatment plant and around ten houses from the distribution point (Old Jammu City) were analyzed monthly for various physicochemical parameters for a period of one year (February 2014 to January 2015). The study indicated deterioration of drinking water quality during its passage through the distribution network which has been attributed to the leakages and defects in the old pipe system supplying water to the Jammu city. Comparison of analyzed water quality parameters with the drinking water standards prescribed by World Health Organization (WHO) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) indicated that parameters like DO (7.49-8.24mg/l), calcium(49.93-67.08mg/l), magnesium(16.14-25.21mg/l) and potassium(6.99-7.93mg/l) were almost nearing the desirable limits but were within the permissible limits and parameters like turbidity(3.5-8.17 NTU) and total hardness(78.87-120.50mg/l) were above the desirable limits in the water samples collected from the distribution point. The collected primary data for the thirteen water quality parameters has been used to calculate the Arithmetic Water Quality Index(WQI) which has shown monsoon increase with higher values at distribution point(65.65). One time microbial analysis (MPN/100ml) for total and faecal coliform has indicated presence of faecal coliform (

Zooplanktonic analysis of Surinsar lake, Jammu, during the year 2002-2004, has shown the presence of fifty one species of protozoans belonging to three classes viz. Sarcodina (32 spp), Ciliata (16 spp.) and Mastigophora (3 spp.). Quantitatively, during the year 2002-03, there was dominance of Sarcodina followed by Ciliata and Mastigophra. In the subsequent year viz. 2003-04, the order of quantitative dominance has been observed as Ciliata> Sarcodina and> Mastigophora. Coefficient of correlation(r) of protozoans with various physico-chemical parameters has generally shown insignificant results. The calculated value of ANOVA of various protozoan classes was significant and the means of various classes differed significantly among themselves indicating their significant contribution to total protozoan population.

Water quality parameters viz. air temperature (15.21 0 C -36 0 C/16.71 0 C - 39.42 0 C), water temperature (13 0 C-32.42 0 C/15 0 C-32.8 0 C), depth (42cm-69.08cm/ 25cm-121.92cm), turbidity (3.88-46.27NTU/3.67-69.39 NTU), salinity (0.10-0.31ppt/ 0.10-0.37ppt), electrical conductivity (0.101-0.172mS/cm/0.114-0.279mS/cm), TDS (49.63-111.78 mg/l/57.64-177.01mg/l), pH (7.92-9.82/7.80-9.09), free CO2 (0-19.22mg/l/0-15.32mg/l), DO (6.82-9.90mg/l/4.65-9.40mg/l), carbonate (0-18.38mg/l/0-20.63mg/l), bicarbonate (60.99-170.70mg/l/77.62-168.70mg/l, chloride (7.41-12.35mg/l/9.59-19.60mg/l), calcium (6.85-38.50mg/l/11.81-140.49mg/l), magnesium (4.62-7.22mg/l/3.86-39.05mg/l), total hardness (40.29-125.50 mg/l/56.61-511.05mg/l), BOD (3.12-5.79mg/l/1.31-16.21 mg/l), COD (17.74-75.42 mg/l/ 26.57-73.03mg/l), sodium (14.2-22.5mg/l/12.2-30.9mg/l), potassium (1.83-4.17mg/l/2.25-6.21mg/l), phosphate (0.048-0.233mg/l/0.008-0.603mg/l), nitrate (0.13-1.3mg/l/0.11-4.08mg/l), sulphate (1.60-19.19mg/l/1.36-15.70mg/l), silicate (0.14-4.23mg/l/0.27-7.05mg/l), iron (0-0.65/0-0.40mg/l), copper (below detectable limit) and zinc (below detectable limit), of lake Surinsar-the only source of drinking water to the inhabitants of the Surinsar village, have been reported monthly, during the year 2002-03/2003-04. WQI range falls from poor (70.45, December; 73.55, October; 74.4, November and 74.56, September/ 74.52, January and 75.36, September), very poor(82.54, February; 89.25, May; 80.76, August and 78.86, January/ 80.89, February; 98.25, April; 80.03, June; 82.26, July; 86.55, October and 83.03, November) to unfit (100.44, June; 101.9, July; 103.86, April and 119.5, March/ 103.73, May; 108.28, March; 122.56, August and 103.72, December). Comparison of range of various water quality parameters of Surinsar lake water, with national and international standards has also revealed that most of these parameters are beyond permissible limits. This clearly indicates the unsuitability of raw water, generally consumed by local inhabitants, for human consumption.

Rotifers represent microscopic zooplankton fauna, occurring prevalently in freshwater. In the present study, monthly qualitative and quantitative analysis of phylum Rotifera was carried out in lake Mansar, Jammu, during the year 2011-2012 and has been described. The study revealed the presence of fifteen species belonging to two classes viz. Monogononta and Bdelliodea. Qualitatively, Class Monogononta was represented by fourteen species belonging to four families namely Lecanidae, Colurinae, Brachionidae and Notommatidae and Class Bdelliodea by one species belonging to family Philodinidae. The annual average density of the rotifers in the lake varied between 109n/l (January) and 709n/l (March), respectively. Seasonally, class Monogononta observed bimodal peaks viz. March and August with highest and lowest observation in the months of August and January, respectively. Class Bdelloidea showed its presence only during December, March and May with complete absence in rest of the months. The analysis of coefficient of correlation (r) of rotifers with various physicochemical parameters of water has shown strong significant correlation with dissolved oxygen and carbonate. Also, linear regression equations developed for rotifer and water quality parameters which have significant influence on each other (r > .701 at 0.05 significance level; two tailed and n = 12) have confirmed significant correlation between rotifer and DO.