Urban water quality and COVID-19 during the lockdown periods: a case study of Ghaggar river, Punjab, India

ABSTRACT

In late December 2019, a novel coronavirus, COVID −19 originated in Wuhan city of China, and significant improvement in not only the air quality but also the water quality. Therefore, the current study demonstrates the changes in water quality parameters of the Ghaggar river, Punjab, India. The variations in the water quality of the Ghaggar river have been examined during the pre-, during, and post-pandemic periods. The maximum temperature of the Ghaggar river for all monitoring stations was between 28 to 37°C during the pandemic period, whereas the maximum dissolved oxygen value varied from 3 to 7 mg/L. The maximum pH obtained from the monitoring stations was reported to be 7.7 to 8.0, except chhatbir monitoring station (7.6). The maximum biochemical oxygen demand for all monitoring stations was found to be between 18–53 mg/L. Strong positive correlations were observed between total coliform and fecal coliform for pre (0.76) and during (0.89) the pandemic periods. Similar significant positive correlations were recorded between BOD and conductivity for pre (0.75) and during (0.58) pandemic periods.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• Ghaggar river
• temperature
• DO
• pH
• BOD
• conductivity
• pandemic

Acknowledgements

The first author thanks Dr. Jyotsana Gupta for insightful discussion and valuable suggestions during the paper preparation. The authors also appreciate Mr. Raj Kumar Singh and Mr. Fatyaz Ahmad from the School of Environment and Earth Sciences, Central University of Bathinda, Punjab for the preparation of the study map.

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The authors declare that there have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper

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All the authors have permitted publication.

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Data will be made available on a reasonable basis.

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The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.