Impact of Industrial and Urban Sewage on Stream Water Quality: A Case Study of River Damodar near Durgapur, West Bengal, India

In this work attempt was made to assess the effect of industrial effluents and urban domestic sewage on water quality of the river Damodar near Durgapur, a major industrial city located on left bank of the concerned river. Data generated by West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) on twenty water quality parameters observed every month for a period of 4 years between 2014 and 2017 in pair from two stations, one is at upstream and other at downstream side of the Tamala Nala confluence. Paired Sample t-Test was conducted to compare the value of each parameter observed from two distinct stations and its non-parametric counterpart Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was also applied for those variables which didn’t assume the normality. Out of 20 parameters 14 shows significant difference in their concentration in between up and down stream stations at 5% significance level (p < 0.05). The statistical results substantiated by descriptive statistics provide strong evidences to say that the urban and industrial waste water does really have influence in determining the water quality of the river Damodar in West Bengal.