Comparative study of impact of water quality on the soil and crop productivity of Kanpur and Hardoi
Student name: Ms Vandana Sharma
Guide: Ms Ranjana Ray Chaudhuri
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: TERI University
Abstract: The objective of the study was to assess the impact of industrial effluents and groundwater on the soil
and crop productivity of the Kanpur and Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh. Due to the rapid industrial and
urban development the generation of waste has thus increased contributing to the water pollution. In
India the land and water use patterns have changed drastically over the few years as a result of
which there has been an increased reliance on the ground water abstraction because of the growth of
the surface water pollution. Two villages from Kanpur and Hardoi were studied based on the source
of water used for irrigation and the types of crop grown. The present study was conducted in the
month of April and May 2017. The CETP effluent (tannery) used as a source for irrigation in Kanpur
and groundwater sample used for irrigation of agricultural fields in Hardoi were collected and were
analyzed for different physico-chemical parameters viz: pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Acidity,
Alkalinity, Chloride (Cl - ), Sulfate (SO 4
2-) , Nitrate (NO 3
-) , Fluoride (F - ), Iron (Fe), Hardness (CaCO3),
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS) and Total Solids (TS).The soil samples were collected from the
agricultural fields receiving the CETP effluents in Kanpur and groundwater in Hardoi respectively
and were analyzed for Organic carbon, NPK, Electrical Conductivity. The contamination level was
found to be highest in the CETP effluents in Kanpur and the Groundwater in Hardoi was found to be
of good quality within the acceptable limit of BIS standards. The study revealed that the soil samples
of Kanpur was found to be have the highest Organic carbon and also the crop yield of two villages of
Kanpur was very high as compared to the crop yield of the villages of Hardoi.
KEY WORDS: Contamination, tannery effluents, agricultural fields, groundwater, crop yield
