International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438 Volume 4 Issue 7, July 2015 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Study on Pollution Status of Sediment with Reference to its Physico-Chemical Properties along Industrial Creeks of Surat City, Gujarat Alpa Varsani 1 , Kapila Manoj 2 Department of Aquatic Biology, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat Abstract: The present study aimed to establish pollution status in sediment along with the Industrial creek of Surat city, Gujarat. The physico-chemical properties of the sediment of the creeks of Surat city were analysed. The samples were collected monthly from three different sites for the period of six months. In the present investigation, the pH, temperature, H 2 S, chloride, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and silicate were examined in sediment sample. Statistical analysis of the data is presented to find out the correlation among measured variables. The present study revealed depreciate condition of sediment of industrial creek which points out to the need of regular monitoring of water resources and further improvement in the industrial waste water treatment methods. Keywords: sediment, pollution, industrial creek, physico-chemical properties, Statistical correlation. 1. Introduction Sediment is the loose sand, clay, silt and other soil particles that settle at the bottom of a body of water. Sediments are a major carrier phase for pollutants and provide useful spatial and temporal information [1-3]. Due to the many anthropogenic activities in industrial areas sediment may get polluted which may cause major contamination and which is more responsible for increasing the pollutants in the sediment. Municipal sewage water, industrial effluents and many unwanted wastes like plastic materials, bottles, broken pieces of metal etc. are also dump into the creek near by them. The pollutants are starting to get deposited on the soil when the soil gets accumulated by the toxic substances such as metals, trace elements and other organic substances from domestic and industrial sectors [4]. Sediments comprise an important component of aquatic ecosystems, providing habitat for a wide range of benthic and epi-benthic organisms. Exposure to certain substances in sediments represents a potentially significant hazard to the health of these organisms. Effective assessment of this hazard requires an understanding of the relationships between concentrations of sediment associated chemicals and the occurrence of adverse biological effects. Sediments are a sink as well as a source of contaminants in the aquatic environment. These contaminants may pose a high risk to the environment on a large scale and hence need to be monitored at regular intervals. The present study was conduct to gather data about the state of sediment quality in industrialized areas of Surat city and make recommendations based on finding for measures to prevent pollution by industries. 2. Literature Survey Geographical location of Surat district is 21.0 0 to 21.23 0 N latitude and 72.38 0 to 74.23 0 E longitude. It is an industrial hub for the textile and diamond industries. Surat is a city which drains its storm drainage through Mithi, Kankara, Khajod, Koyali, Bhedwad, Sonari and Varachcha (creek) into Mindhola River. The Creek receives domestic raw sewage as well as industrial waste water effluent from surrounding habitation and nearby industrial belt. There are many creeks flow through Surat city from which three sites were selected viz. Creek-1 Bhedwad Khadi (Bamroli), Creek-2 Mithi Khadi (Udhana) and Creek-3 Saniya Hamed (Saroli) where domestic sewage and industrial effluent drained. 3. Methodology The sediment was collected monthly from the selected sites for the period of six months (Oct-2012 to March-2013) by adaptive core sampling technique as described in Nybakken [5]. The sediment was scooped by pushing 50 cm long acrylic core of 5 cm diameter into soil of the creek. Collected samples were stored in polythene bags and brought to the laboratory for analysis. The physico-chemical parameters selected for study are pH, Temperature, Chloride, H 2 S, Silica, Phosphate, Nitrate and Nitrite. APHA [6] and IS-3025 [7] followed for the analysis. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS. 4. Results and Discussion The physicochemical properties of sediment samples collected from different sampling station illustrated in Table-1. Table-2 shows correlation coefficient of various physicochemical parameters of sediment by Pearson Correlation technique. Descriptive Statistics were represented in Table-3. Paper ID: SUB156854 2078