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This article describes the water quality scenario of freshwater springs of Baramulla district of Kashmir Valley in light of pollution threats and predicted climate change consequences for Himalayan ecosystems. The study was designed to have insights to what extent the community is relying on the spring water and what policy initiatives and planning perspectives at the government level are currently in vogue for sustainable management of these freshwater springs. Our results indicated that the springs are mild hard water type with nitrate concentration, conductivity, and iron values ranging from 19 to 675 μg/L, 185 to 811 μS/cm, and 1 to 308 μg/L respectively. Water quality index (WQI) revealed that the majority of the springs have excellent to good water quality category, while as in few springs like Aboora (26), Harwan (27), Fugipora (29), and Goigam (30), it was falling under poor to very poor category. Principal component analysis (PCA) generated mainly three components (VF1, VF2, and VF3) with higher Eigen values of 2.0 or more (2.23–6) accounting for 56.92%, 28.85%, and 10.64% of the total variance respectively. The survey highlights revealed the dependence of a large proportion of population for drinking water besides other uses, but no signs of involvement from the government level. Keeping in view the importance of these springs, it is necessitated that this situation should catch the attention of government and policy makers for the management of freshwater springs which can play an important role in fulfilling the UN (United Nations) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of access to safe drinking water.

This study describes the importance of multivariate techniques in evaluating the underlying mechanisms responsible for the spatial–temporal dynamics in physicochemical characteristics of a riverine ecosystem. Evaluation and assessment of physicochemical variables of Marusudar River, Chenab valley, and Northwestern Himalayas, India are very important due to the plan for exploiting this river for hydropower generation. In this study, the physicochemical variables were taken from 15 sampling locations spread over the entire river basin (winter 2014, summer, and autumn 2015) were investigated. The results of the study indicate that the datasets obtained are clusterable, and the whole river basin can be categorized in two recognizable clusters with different water quality identified by Hopkin’s statistics, hierarchical cluster analysis, and subsequently validated by the silhouette coefficient measures. Correlation and regression tests showed that water quality variables bear significant positive and negative relationships and significantly explain the significant proportion of variations produced in the dependent variables predictable from the independent variables. The results of Wilks’ statistics corroborate with the principal component analysis of the entire river and cluster-wise dataset, showing the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors as drivers of the overall water quality in the Marusudar River. The water quality of the cluster 2 sites displayed the impact of anthropogenic activities. Furthermore, pH, total dissolved solids, and total hardness were the main and effective contributors to water quality index evaluation and determination. Gibbs and Piper’s analysis indicated the rock-water dominance with calcium-bicarbonate hydrochemical facies in the river basin.

This study reports the significance of freshwater springs primarily in meeting drinking water demands besides offering various ecosystem services. We analyzed a total of eighteen hydrochemical quality parameters using standard methods from various representative springs of Anantnag district, Kashmir Himalaya. Groundwater quality profiles were generated in a GIS environment for each parameter. Additionally, statistical methods were employed to understand the interdependence of water quality parameters. Highly variable dissolved oxygen (0.4–9.2 mg L−1) and relatively higher values of nitrate ranging from 57 to 2668 µg L−1 noticed during the study may be mostly related to contamination from agricultural waste. The findings of this study revealed that the springs are predominantly hard water type as the water samples found were calcium-rich and exhibited higher total phosphorus in a few samples owing to limestone lithology in the catchment. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the data generated chiefly three components (VF1, VF2, and VF3) having Eigen values of 2.0 or more (2.28–5.37) contributing for 31.63%, 17.99% and 13.44% of the total variance, respectively. The water quality index (WQI) of the samples for drinking purpose ranged from good to excellent. In light of our findings, it is argued that springs offer a potential, although partial, solution to the drinking water demands of a burgeoning population in Indian Himalayan region. However, equally important is to have a thorough investigation of springs to explore the impacts of other forms of pollution, including heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotic wastes, which can diminish much-needed ecosystem services.

High altitude lakes (HALs) of Kashmir Himalaya are the important ecosystems in the mountain ecology of the broader Hindukush Himalayan region. This article provides a comprehensive information about the plankton (phytoplankton and periphyton) assemblages, water quality (WQ), bathymetry, morphometry, and land use land cover (LULC) of some select high altitude mountain lakes of Kashmir Himalaya. LULC analysis revealed that the catchment of the lakes spread over an area of about 16179 ha, is covered by different land cover types dominated by pastures (50.8%), followed by barren rocky (32.6%), snow and glaciers (11.9%), lakes (2.5%), forest (2%), and streams (0.2%). Bathymetric and morphometric analysis revealed that the Gangbal Lake is the deepest (84 m) and largest (162.4 ha) among the investigated lakes. The water quality index revealed that all the HALs have the excellent water quality category. Statistical analysis (Wilk’s λ) depicted that nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 − -N), nitrite nitrogen (NO 2 − -N), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH 3 -N), total phosphorus (TP), and magnesium hardness (Mg-H) are responsible for major variability between all HALs sites. The cations followed the order of Ca 2+ > Mg 2+ > Na + > K + while as anions followed the order as HCO 3− > Cl − > SO4 2− . Algal composition (phytoplankton and periphyton) assessment revealed the presence of 61 taxa belonging to Bacillariophyceae (45), Chlorophyceae (14), Cyanophyceae (1), and Xanthophyceae (1). The higher dominance of Bacillariophyceae indicates oligotrophic nature of the lakes. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) highlighted the role of various water quality parameters like pH, EC, and TDS on the composition of phytoplankton and periphyton species among the lakes. The present study therefore generated a baseline database for some of the HALs of Kashmir Himalaya that can act as a precursor for more research on future changes in the lake ecosystems of the region.

Abstract Dachigam-Dara catchment feeding the world-famous Dal Lake was assessed and evaluated for water quality and anthropogenic impacts using physico-chemical and biological data from 2016 to 2018. Seven sites belonging to Dachigam (DACZ) and Dara zone (DARZ) catchment, three sites from the confluence zone (WANZ), and two sites at the downstream end (TELZ) were selected characterized by varying degrees of anthropogenic pressures. Biological Monitoring Working Program, and Average Score Per Taxon at the upstream zones (DACZ, DARZ, and WANZ) recorded significantly higher scores with water quality indices falling within the good category than the downstream zone (TELZ). Taxa richness, and diversity indices of benthic macroinvertebrates recorded higher values at the upstream zones (DACZ, and DARZ), and confluence zone (WANZ), compared to the downstream zone (TELZ). Results revealed that phylum Arthropoda was most dominant contributing 37 invertebrate families (constituting 90% of the total macroinvertebrate community, including Crustacea and Arachnida) while phylum Mollusca and Annelida constitute 5% each. Macroinvertebrate families Baetidae, Erpobdellidae, Gammaridae, Chironomidae, and Heptagenidae contributed significantly to the similarity and dissimilarity between the sampling zones. The best subset of environmental variables (BIOENV) test revealed that the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage in the Dachigam-Dara catchment is driven by pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and phosphate phosphorous. The upstream zones (DACZ, and DARZ) and confluence zone (WANZ), compared to the downstream zone (TELZ) suggest progressive shift of pollution sensitive macroinvertebrate taxa to pollution tolerant taxa in response to anthropogenic activities in the stream ecosystem over time.

Coliform pollution for the last three decades in major river systems of the world has resulted in far ranging impacts on water quality. In this context, the present study aimed to assess the levels of indicator bacteria like total Coliform (TC), fecal Coliform (FC) and fecal Streptococcus (FS) in major watersheds of Kashmir valley. Sampling was carried out for a period of 2 years (summer 2017 to spring 2019) along several upstream, midstream and downstream reaches of Jhelum River Basin (JRB), while analysis was carried out by multiple tube fermentation technique involving Most Probable Number (MPN). Major highlights of the results revealed high levels of TC, FC and FS among downstream sites with pronounced seasonal variations between summer and winter. TC was highest at all the reaches and during all the seasons followed by FC and FS. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) revealed more variation in Coliform count among reaches as compared to seasons. Mantle test revealed that environmental factors like observable environmental pressure (OEP) ( r : 0.235, p < 0.0001), DO ( r : 0.2815, p < 0.0001) and temperature ( r : 0.04419, p = 0.0104) had prominent effect on Coliform distribution as compared to geographical factors. The study thus highlights the prevalence of Coliform bacteria along JRB resulting from fecal sources. Due to growing urbanization and lack of adequate sewage treatment facilities, there is an increase in the levels of Coliform bacteria along downstream reaches especially those residing within lower Jhelum and Dara watershed, which could jeopardize water quality and public health.

This study investigates the impact of environmental factors on benthic Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations in river ecosystems, focusing on the Jhelum River Basin (JRB). It assesses the influence of hydro-chemical variables on Chl-a levels and trophic status across 59 sites spanning upstream, midstream, and downstream sections. The trophic status based on the mean and maximum concentration of Chl-a at various sites reveals the oligotrophic (76%) to mesotrophic (24%) nature of the JRB. Whereas, the concentration of total phosphorus (TP) revealed the mesotrophic (42%) to eutrophic (58%) nature of the JRB. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of data sets resulted in the formation of three distinct clusters. Cluster I was dominated by upstream sites (72%), cluster II was dominated by mid and downstream sites (71%), while cluster III was represented by main river and downstream sites (84%). Multiple linear regression (MLR) model ( p˂ 0.05) revealed TP (30-554 µg/l) and dissolved oxygen (DO) (5–13 mg/l) as major parameters influencing Chl-a content. MLR also highlighted that ammoniacal nitrogen (NH 3 –N), nitrite nitrogen (NO 2 -N), electrical conductivity (EC), current velocity (V), discharge (D) and water temperature have significant relation ( p˂ 0.05) with Chl-a concentration but differ seasonally. Water quality index (WQI) on the basis of NH 3 -N, TP, DO, Chl-a and Faecal Coliform (FC) highlighted excellent to good for majority of upstream sites and poor to water unsuitable for all downstream sites respectively. The study offers clear signs of nutrient enrichment and increasing algal biomass downstream of JRB.