Dataset on water quality characteristics of a hill stream in Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir

The article summarises the data on water quality characteristics of Neeru stream analysed monthly for two years on a seasonal basis averaged to one year. Twenty-five water samples were collected and analysed to understand the quality of water based on index parameters. The data indicates marked variations in the concentration of most constituents mostly in the urban and suburban sections of the stream. The values for Canadian Water Quality Index (CWQI) were within acceptable range except for turbidity and nickel. The tributaries T-1, T-3 (III) and T-4 flowing close to urban settlement revealed relatively high levels of pollution (WQI:85-90), while T-3 (II) bisecting Bhaderwah town was heavily polluted (WQI:82.97). The main water channel (MC-1 to MC-10) with moderate to heavy pollution load in the middle and lower sections revealed reasonably good water quality (WQI 90-95).


Data
The dataset contains 7 Tables and 2 Figs. that represent the quality of stream water for drinking purposes. Table 1 depicts the details of the sampling points interpolated on a map ( Fig. 1) with impact stations shown as clusters around the sub-urban and urban centres. The seasonal variations in physical (air & water temperature, discharge and turbidity) and chemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen and bicarbonates) are presented in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively. Observed annual air and water temperature of 25 stations averaged between 4.1 Ce26.1 C and 2.7 Ce20.5 C, respectively. Relatively high water discharge (729 cubic feet/sec.) was recorded during the spring season, whereas turbidity showed considerable fluctuations (0-61.4 NTU) during the winter ( Table 2). pH ranged from neutral to slightly alkaline (7.4-7.9) while conductivity varied between 33.6 mS/cm (summer) and 184.6 mS/cm (winter) and total dissolved solids between 22.1 mg/l (summer) to 137.6 mg/l (autumn). The dissolved oxygen ranged from 7.46 mg/l (summer) to 11.6 mg/l (winter) whereas bicarbonates varied from 10.8 mg/l (summer) to 39.8 mg/l (spring) ( Table 3). Among the anions, fluoride varied from below detection limits during winters to 0.46 mg/l in spring while chloride, the important water quality parameter fluctuated between 0.24 mg/l to 9.33 mg/l during spring and winter, respectively. Nitrates ranged between 0 mg/l (autumn) -7.07 mg/l (winter) and sulphate from 0.69 mg/l to 8.86 mg/l during summer and winter, respectively (Table 4). Sodium, among the cations ranged from 1.27 mg/l (spring) to 15.42 mg/l (summer), ammonium between 0.37mg/l (winter) to 63.16 mg/l (spring) and potassium between 0.57 mg/l (spring) to 7.05 mg/l (summer). Calcium showed the seasonal transition from a minimum of 3.55 mg/l (summer) to 17.50 mg/l (winter) while magnesium ranged between 1.19 mg/l to 3.69 mg/l during spring and winter, respectively (Table 5). Among the heavy metals, copper and nickel were recorded at below detection levels at few stations to a maximum of 67.0 mg/l (winter) and 88.0 mg/l (autumn), respectively. Zinc ranged between 2.0 mg/l (summer) to 60.0 mg/l (autumn) while cobalt and manganese showed the maximum value of 9.0 mg/l and 1700.0 mg/l recorded during the winter (Table 6).
Overall the fluctuations in physicochemical parameters indicated small scale changes associated with human activities along the course of the water body. A large set of parameters like air and water temperature, discharge, turbidity, electrical conductivity, TDS, HCO 3  , K þ , Ca 2þ , Mg 2þ however, showed a negative trend along with dissolved oxygen as pH behaved neutral to slightly alkaline along the entire course. As typical of the hill streams, the river discharge and temperature broadly impact these concentrations.
We selected a set of 13 parameters (pH, turbidity, TDS, F, Cl, NO 3 -, SO 4 2 , Ca 2þ , Mg 2þ , Cu, Ni, Zn and Mn) for generating the WQI, a mathematical framework calculated using 'weighted arithmetic index' (Table   Specification table   Subject Area  Aquatic Ecology  More Specific  subject area   Water quality   Type of data  Tables, figures  How data was acquired The water samples were collected and analysed following standard protocols and procedures. We used probe-based multi-parameter water analyser, double beam spectrophotometer, Ion Chromatography and volumetric methods for the analysis.   (Table 7, Fig. 2). Interestingly the main channel MC-2 to MC-10 revealed fairly good (WQI~90) water quality (Fig. 2). The factors governing the deterioration of water quality include the pollutants from soluble salts (erosion and runoff), domestic (raw sewage, slaughterhouse and organic wastes) and agricultural activities. Most contaminated sections are the ones that pass through the urban sector. A steady rise in the water-borne infectious diseases in the past few years is attributed to the undesirable drinking water supplies in the region, the local health department claims. It thus becomes necessary to assess and monitor the stream water quality to examine its suitability for drinking and to adopt appropriate measures for the improvement of the drinking water supply system. The data presented in the paper are the part of investigations undertaken to determine the water quality characteristics of Neeru stream for land use characteristics and environmental factors.

Study area description
Neeru stream, a linear hydromorphological unit spanning 35 km in length originates at Kailash lake (3900 m) and drains into river Chenab near Pul-Doda at 850 m. 13 major tributaries contribute it during the entire course. Neeru watershed occupies rugged and mountainous terrain comprising of high Mallothi T-6(I) Impact Station 33 0 02 0 46.9 00 N -75⁰ 36 0 42.3 00 E 1357 23 Bhalla   [3]. Neeru stream, the lifeline of Bhaderwah offers a continuous and reliable source of fresh water for drinking (public water supply) and other purposes. The population influx, fast urbanisation and infrastructure expansion in the recent past have degraded the quality of this natural water body. The stream while passing through Bhaderwah town (38 58 0 48"N and 75 43 0 12"E, 1613 m) is exposed to a myriad of stressors, mostly anthropogenic.

Sample collection
We selected twenty-five sampling stations based on the size of the watershed, proximity to the habitation and area of influence. The pristine sections were taken as a baseline while the polluted sections as impact stations. Station names, codes and geo-coordinates are listed in Table 1 and presented in Fig. 1. We carried monthly sampling and analysis for two years (January 2014 to December 2015) and presented it on a seasonal basis.

Analytical procedure
The physicochemical parameters analysed included air temperature, water temperature, discharge, turbidity, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, bicarbonates, fluoride, Ta-Air temperature ( C); Tw-Water temperature ( C); Dis-Discharge (CFS); Tur-Turbidity (NTU). EC-Electrical Conductivity (mS/cm); TDS-Total Dissolved Solids (mg/l); DO-Dissolved oxygen(mg/l); HCO 3 ̶ -Bicarbonates(mg/l).    nitrate and phosphate) and trace elements (copper, nickel, zinc, cobalt and manganese) were analysed using Ion Chromatograph (IC) 850-(Metrohm). We analysed the samples in aquatic ecology laboratory of Institute of Mountain Environment, Bhaderwah Campus and Ion Chromatography Laboratory of Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Jammu. The Canadian Water Quality Index [2] was calculated based on 13 parameters combined to produce a single value (between 0 and 100) based on scope, frequency and amplitude [8] that describes the water quality.