CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF WATER QUALITY IN KHADAKWASLA RESERVOIR: IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSERVATION EFFORTS

The flourishment and survival of fish is dependent on the quality of water in which it is being stalked. At the same time water quality is also influenced by the fish through processes like nitrogen metabolism and respiration.

To understand the health and workings, limits of its ability to take in some level of pollution without harming the water system of any water body, chemical analysis of the water is considered as the most important study which has helped scientists not only to understand water's interactions with Earth's geologic materials but also to get insight into the impact of human activities on water bodies. Ultimately these studies help conservationists to protect and conserve threatened species by stocking them in the water body. In this study chemical analysis of the water was done so as to determine the health of the reservoir with respect to management of Mahseer culture for its propagation. Various parameters like dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide total alkalinity, total hardness and calcium hardness were analysed with respect to survival and flourishment of the mighty fish mahseer and it was found that all these factors fall in the permissible limit. Thus the chemical analysis of the Khadakwasla reservoir indicated that it is a suitable habitat for conservation of this endangered species in the freshwater ecosystem.