Evaluation of Physico-Chemical Parameters and Minerals Status of Different Water Sources at High Altitude

Physico-chemical properties and minerals status is an important decisive factor for assessment of drinking water quality. There are limited literatures on this aspect for drinking water quality of high altitude areas; therefore, the present investigation was carried out to evaluate different physico-chemical parameters and some essential minerals status in different drinking water sources. These water samples were collected from different sources like deep tube well, spring, and river from different villages of Leh District, Jammu & Kashmir, India. Thereafter, it was analyzed for physico-chemical parameters viz. dissolve oxygen, alkalinity, hardness, chloride, phosphate, sulphate, and nitrate according to standard methods. Similarly, all the essential minerals viz. sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, sulphur, and manganese were analyzed by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). All the results were compared with the WHO standard for drinking water. The fi ndings of this investigation indicated that dissolved oxygen, alkalinity and hardness were above the desirable level at some places as per WHO standards. Whereas, chloride, nitrate, and sulphate levels were lower in all the water samples collected across the sources. Among all the minerals, iron, potassium and aluminium level were above and sodium, magnesium, and manganese were lower than the desirable level at all the different altitude as per WHO standards. Interestingly, chloride, sodium, sulphur and aluminium level were high in Indus river water collected from the nearby city area. Therefore, it can be concluded that water sources near the city area are more contaminated than the other sites. Hence, present fi ndings indicated variation in physico-chemical parameters and mineral status of water of different sources of high altitude Himalayan region. More or less, the quality of drinking water is suitable for consumption except the hardness and aluminium level.