Assessment Of Drinking Water Quality Of Sheikhupura City | Author : Nida Shafique | Abstract | Full Text | Abstract :Assessment of water quality is essential to get rid of water borne diseases not only for humans but also for other organisms. Production of healthy grains is largely dependent upon provision of high-quality water to seasonal crops. A study was carried out to assess the drinking water quality of district Sheikhupura. The water samples were collected from twenty-one different locations of the city. The areas of the city where population density was higher more than one water samples were collected from there and after analysis most polluted areas were highlighted. Sixteen physiochemical parameters (pH, taste, odor, color, temperature, turbidity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, chloride, electrical conductivity, arsenic, iron, fluoride and sulphate) and one biological parameter (total coliform) were tested for each sample site and the results were compared with World Health Organization (WHO) predefined standard of drinking water to highlight the vulnerable sites having water quality below WHO standards. Based on physiochemical parameter results, the water samples of ten different locations were found unfit for human consumption and for agriculture as well. The presence of brown and green particles were found in two samples, whereas the value of total dissolved solids was higher than the permissible limit at five sample site and the value of arsenic was higher than the limit at three different sites. Only one water sample which was collected from Housing Colony was found biologically fit whereas other thirty-one samples were found biologically contaminated. The possible cause of this contamination was the mixing of wastewater with ground water. It is recommended that the water should be used after boiling or compulsory chlorination should be performed to eliminate biological contamination. |
| Assessment of Drought in Mithi, Thar Using Satellite based Indices and Geoinformatics Techniques | Author : Muhammad Mustafa Tahir | Abstract | Full Text | Abstract :Drought is an incessant process in Thar, Pakistan. The extent of droughts needs to be assessed for better planning of landuse in future. The satellite data from LANDSAT 7, 8, MODIS MOD13Q1 was acquired from United States Geologic Survey (USGS) and precipitation data of TRMM was collected from GIOVANNI for the years from 2010 to 2019. Various indices including NDVI, NDMI, LST, SPI, and DI were calculated and compared with post-drought images of our targeted area and the maps were developed for Spatio-temporal analysis. The results show that vegetation in Mithi improved due to enhanced NDVI from 2010 to 2012 and a declined was observed from 2013 to 2015 with an extreme drought in 2014. The effect of the previous drought on vegetation were calculated to be negative, indicating below- average rainfall. The results showed the TRMM satellite’s over-estimation in calculating precipitation or rainfall data. The precipitation and NDVI values were improved throughout 2010 to 2013 due to continuous rainfall which overcome the earlier drought in that region. Due to El-Niño’s factor, the temperature was increased most in 2014, which resulted in no precipitation that’s why it caused the extreme drought in 2014. Precipitation and NDVI values declined in years 2015 to 2019 in Mithi. A weak, moderate, and extreme droughts were recorded in 2012, 2016 and 2014, respectively. Satellite data provided promising results which were near to actual ground observations. |
|
|