Water is the most important natural resource and is essential for life, as it provides habitat for diverse types of aquatic life in rivers, lakes and oceans and constitutes 65% of human body. The great historical cities grew around rivers and lakes because of human dependence on water. The expansion of agriculture and industrial development has not only increased water consumption considerably but has also affected water quality. Water is easily polluted because of its great ability to dissolve substances. Even before raindrops touch the earth, they start picking up pollutants. Once on the ground, water picks up things rapidly, and becomes contaminated.

Over the years, water pollution has emerged as an important issue in India as most of the rivers are polluted, which are having substantial negative impact on human health and aquatic life. The varieties of fish grown in a sewage pond would need to change if the quality deteriorated, and fishing would have to be stopped entirely if the water quality deteriorated substantially [2]. Health problems can ensure for agricultural workers due to pathogenic bacteria, viruses and parasites present in the wastewater as well as for consumers of wastewater-irrigated crops, particularly if the produce is not cooked before it is consumed.

The Musi River was known as Muchukunda river in olden days, and the precise reason for the change of name is not known. There are many bridges across the river in Hyderabad. The oldest bridge, Puranapul was built during the reign of Ibrahim Qutub shah in 1579 A.D. Nayapul bridge near High Court was added later.

Hyderabad stands on the banks of Musi River, which divides it into old city and new city. The river Musi originates in Anantagiri hills near Vikarabad, Ranga Reddy district and flows east due its course. It joins the Krishna River at Vadapally in Nalgonda district after covering a distance of about 240 km (Figure 1). Nizam Osman Ali Khan VII built a flood control system on the river. Two dams namely Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar were built in 1920 and 1927 across the river Musi and on its tributary, in the upstream side respectively. These lakes prevented the flooding of the River Musi and are major drinking water sources for Hyderabad city.

Figure 1. The flow of Musi River from Uppal IDA to Prathap Singaram and other parts of city

The Musi River was the cause of frequent flood devastation of Hyderabad city until the early decades of the 20 century. On Tuesday 28 September 1908, Hyderabad witnessed disastrous floods of the River Musi, flowing through the city. In a single day, 17 inches of rainfall was recorded and the water level at Afzalgunj was about 11 feet (3.4 m) high. These floods caused huge devastation to Hyderabad and killed around 15,000 people (Figure 2) and (Figure 3). The modern era of the development of the twin cities began soon after these floods in 1908 and necessitated city planning as development.

Figure 2. View of Hyderabad after Great Floods, with Afzal Gunj bridge and Musi River on the Left

Figure 3. The Great Floods of Musi River which devastated the City of Hyderabad

Musi River is a tributary of River Krishna in the Deccan Plateau flowing through Telangana state in India. During its course in the city of Hyderabad, a number of industries which include Uppal IDA (Industrial Development Area), Jeedimetla IDA, Patancheruvu IDA etc were established due to urbanization and the effluents from the industrial waste are being dumped since then. The river water downstream of the cities remains highly polluted, and is considered as a major disaster to Hyderabad and Secunderabad areas.

Researchers of Environmental Toxicology division of Osmania University (Article-Sep 07,2015) [2], have found high levels of heavy metals like cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead, iron, manganese and zinc in spinach (bachhalikura), thotakura, chukkakura, okra (Bhindi), mint (pudina), coriander (kothimira) and tomato grown on the outskirts of the city. The contamination was found to be above the maximum residue limits set by the World Health Organization. The main reason behind this is said to be the usage of Musi River water, which is highly contaminated with industrial effluents and municipal sewage for irrigation. The researchers pointed out that the toxic metals may cause cardiovascular, nervous and bone diseases apart from vomiting, diarrhea, stomachache, anaemia, cancer, ulcers (G Subba Rao and G Sri Harsha 2015) [3].

A 13 km stretch of Musi River, was selected for the water quality assessment from Nagole /Uppal IDA to Prathap Singaram. By using Survey of India topo sheet, E44M11 or 56 K/11 samples were collected as the area is surrounded by more than 25 industries and their effluents are directly drawn into Musi River.

This stretch of the river was selected as it had no tributaries, restricted surface run-off and more industrial effluents. On this stretch ten sample points, approximately 1 km apart from each other were selected and denoted as MR (Musi River) samples and ten other bore well samples were collected near by the range of 0.5 km and denoted as BW (Bore Well). The selection of sample points are based on reasonable access to the Musi River, the possibility to collect samples, for the study of sampling and laboratory procedures and testing of samples during December 2015 to March 2016.

In recent years, no studies have been carried out about the contamination of Musi River by the discharge of effluents from the industries especially from Nagole /Uppal IDA to Prathap Singaram in Ghatkesar Mandal, RR Dist.

The objective of the paper is to carry out the investigations by collecting Musi River water samples from Nagole /Uppal IDA to Prathap Singaram to know the concentration of elements or compounds.

Musi River water samples were collected in a sterile 5 litre plastic container and stored in dark light and analyzed within 4 weeks of collection. In the area under investigation, the parameters like pH, Electrical Conductivity, Total dissolved solids, Alkalies, Total Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Chlorides, Nitrates, Sulphates, Carbonates, Bi- Carbonates and Fluorides are studied to know the quality of Musi River water as well as underground water from bore wells.

The studies reveal that only Nitrates are recorded as high in all the samples when compared to the BIS standards, otherwise, the remaining parameters are in the normal range. Among 10 stations, 8 stations are having high Nitrate (NO as N) values in which the highest Nitrate value of 35.40 mg/lts is observed from station-5 of R-Krishnaiah Nagar (V), Hayathnagar (M) and station-9 i.e. of Submerged Well situated within the radius of 1 km from Thimmaiguda (V), Ghatkesar (M).

Further, it is observed that bore well water samples of 1, 3, 6 and 9 are witnessed with moderate concentration of EC, TDS, Cl, Ca, TH and NO whereas Musi River sample collected near R-Krishnaiah Nagar is witnessed with moderate to high concentrations of EC, TDS, Cl, Na, K, TH and NO3. [Refer Tables 1 and 2 ] *Analytical Lab: Ground Water Department, Hyderabad, Telangana State.

Table 1. Chemical Analysis of water samples collected from Musi River

Table 2. Chemical Analysis of Water Samples Collected from Bore Wells

The drainage pattern indicates the sub-dendritic drainage and the movement of the drainage from the villages or urban areas directly into the Musi River.

Rainfall data of Uppal Mandal for 10 years beginning 2005 onwards is collected from weather station of Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad. However, the recharge of the river is lesser in the recent five years when compared to the previous years of 2005 to 2008.

The plotting of SAR values in USSL diagram indicates that all the samples have low SAR value. Out of 10 bore well samples, two samples lie in C4-S1 field and remaining 8 samples in C3-S1 whereas Musi River samples lie one sample in C4-S2 and C3S2 and 8 samples in C3-S1. The C3-S1 field in USSL diagram is considered as good water category for irrigation use. This implies that no alkali hazard is anticipated to the crops. The remaining 16 water samples occurred within C3–S1 category. If the SAR value is greater than 6 to 9, the irrigation water will cause permeability problems on shrinking and swelling types of clayey soils (Saleh, et al. 1999) [6].

Both the Musi River water samples and Bore Well water samples are plotted in US Salinity Diagram and concluded that all the water samples are belonging to C3-S1 class which is marked as high specific conductance area.

The study area is witnessed by a number of industries which in turn release effluents on large quantities of untreated domestic sewage into the Musi River. Sewage disposal had a mixed impact on downstream of Musi. Poor water quality especially Nitrates had a negative impact on human beings/agriculture possibly crop productivity, though increased reliability and availability of Musi irrigation water also had a positive impact on local livelihoods [5]. For most of the farmers, agriculture is their sole livelihood and to ban the use of Musi River for irrigation would be highly undesirable. The eventual aim should be the treatment of wastewater before it is used in agriculture around the banks of Musi. However, in the mean time additional health protection measures like regular treatment programmes with anthelmintic medication and improvements in local water supply and sanitation should be implemented. The natural remediation efficiency of the river system aided by the construction of irrigation infrastructure, particularly weirs, was high and comparable to the treatment efficiency of a well designed waste stabilization pond system. Hyderabad municipal council intends to invest large amount of money into wastewater treatment technology. The processes currently taking place in the Musi River could be taken into consideration before large scale investments are undertaken in wastewater treatment technology in Hyderabad, as complementary technology could save money and land in the city.

It has been found that this pollution has given rise to four major problems namely, pollution of drinking and irrigation water, large incidence of diseases like diarrheaic, skin allergies, malaria, eye diseases, paediatric problems etc., suffered by the people in and around the study area, and impact on the live stock and cropping pattern in some of the villages. Studies conducted by a team of IV^th year students, Dept of Civil Engg NNRG, Hyderabad have concluded that the water is highly polluted with Nitrates and the presence of a few parameters such as BOD, COD, TDS, Nitrates, phosphorus, Total Hardness, PH, chloride, etc in some of the villages have forced people to buy water from outside, resulting in extra burden on their family budget. Fish population has disappeared in Prathap Singaram and is a notable worthy point. The area around Musi water where it is available and abundant is highly polluted and it is found that the paddy, and vegetables grown in that area is also highly contaminated. The water quality for non-farm activities are also adversely affected because of pollution. In addition, milk production is also affected from the cattle population. At the same time, it is equally important to initiate urgent measures in the study area for providing relief to the victims of pollution. At the village level itself it is necessary to identify the sources of pollution and provide remedial measures. It is necessary to give top priority provision for safe, drinking water and improving the medical facilities of the affected people. Similarly measures have to be initiatived at macro and micro level to improve the soil conditions, the quality of irrigation and drinking water and to provide for growth of livelihood in the non-farming sectors like poultry, and dairy at village level industries.

Water pollution can cause great harm and hence it should be prevented or reduced as far as possible. The following methods should be used to prevent or reduce water pollution:

Treatment of sewage

Sewage should be treated in sewage-treatment plants, which allow only clean water to be discharged into Musi River.

Treatment of industrial wastes

Industrial wastes must be treated to remove harmful substances (mainly chemicals) and only then should the wastes be discharged into a river.

Limited use of pesticides and fertilizers

Pesticides and fertilizers must be used in limited quantities. This will reduce the amounts of these chemicals in the runoff from agricultural land.