PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROFILE AND BENTHOS OF RIVER GIRI UP AND DOWNSTREAM GIRI BARRAGE IN RENUKA, SIRMOUR (HIMACHAL PRADESH)

Himachal Pradesh is drained by various rivers. Himachal Pradesh provides water to both the Indus and Ganges basins. The drainage systems of the region are the Chandra Bhaga or the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. The Yamuna has its origin in Yamunotri in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. Its total catchment area in Himachal Pradesh is 2,320 km2. Its tributaries are the Tons, the Giri and the Bata. Giri river is a perennial river of Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh state. Present attempt has made to study the physicochemical parameters, qualitative and quantitative base of benthos of River Giri up and down stream Giri Barrage in Renuka, Sirmour, H.P. The average water temperature ranged from 7.75±0.96oC (minimum) to 17.00±1.830C (maximum) The mean variation of dissolved oxygen was observed 7.25±0.96 mg l-l (minimum) and 12.00±1.63 mg l-l. Moreover, a total of 12 genera of benthos were collected and identified which includes 9 families, 5 orders and 1 class, respectively. The benthos community was formed by Trichoptera, Ephemeroptera, Diptera, Coleoptera and Hemiptera. INTRODUCTION River plays a prime part in moulding the earth’s physical and ethnic aspects through their distinctive hydrologic attribute as well as framing ethnic aspects. Rivers are very distinctive and priceless resources supporting a range of biotic wealth. Fast flowing rivers and waterfalls are widely used as sources of energy, via watermills and hydroelectric plants. Huge loads of waste water from industries, domestic sewage and agricultural practices find their way into rivers, resulting in large scale deterioration of water quality. The growing problem of degradation of our river ecosystem has necessitated the monitoring of water quality of various rivers all over the country to evaluate their production capacity, utility potential and to plan restorative measures. (Datar and Vashista 1992 , Das and Sinha 1993 ) The creation of a reservoir from damming a river has multiple social and economic impacts on individuals living near the dam project. Resettlement and loss of land from reservoir inundation is the most prominent impact from dam construction. Environmental impacts of dams and consequent reduction in access or availability of fish and other riverine resources may negatively impact human livelihoods as well. Reservoir fisheries may be poor substitutes for river fisheries as a result of lower productivity (Marmula, 2001 and Baran et al., 2007) Himachal Pardesh is drained by various rivers. Himachal Pradesh provides water to both the Indus and Ganges basins. The drainage systems of the region are the Chandra Bhaga or the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas, the Sutlej and the Yamuna. These rivers are perennial and are fed by snow and rainfall. The Yamuna has its origin in Yamunotri in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand. Its total catchment area in Himachal Pradesh is 2,320 km2. Its tributaries are the Tons, the Giri and the Bata. Giri river is a perennial river of Sirmour district of Himachal Pardesh state. Lot of studies has been conducted in India and abroad on the environmental effect of dams and impoundments (Egborge, 1979; Ward and Stanford, 1983; Collier et al., 1998; Sreenivasan, 2000) Brooker (1981) studied the impact of impoundments on the downstream fisheries and general ecology of rivers. Baxter (1977) and Rosenberg et al. (1995, 1997) give a good overview on the environmental effects of dams and impoundments. Owing to the variables, evaluation of water quality and productivity of impoundments of various levels (small/medium/large reservoir) has been studied for different sets of ecological families of reservoir by number of workers in India (Govind, 1963; Sreenivasan, 1965, 2000; Mishra and Yadav, 1978; Annon, 1982,; Sharma, 1987; Adholia et al., 1990; Kumar, 1990; Sugunan, 1991, 1995; Singh et al., 1993; Unni, 1993; Dixitulu, 1999; Thomas and Azis, 2000, Sukumaran and Das, 2001; Das, 2002; Sinclair, 2003) The Himalayan mountain system is drained by many small and large rivers. However studies on the benthic insects of Himalaya fluvial system (Badola and Singh 1981; Dutta and Malhotra, 1986; Nautiyal 1986; Sharma, 1986; Negi and Singh, 1990; Sunder, 1997; Julka et al., 1999, Sharma et al., 2011; Sharma and Dhanze, 2012; Sharma and Dhanze, 2013; Chauhan, et al., 2013) have remained fragmentary. The present study was carried out up and down stream to Giri Barrage to achieve the water quality and benthic status of the river.