Sengupta, M. and Dalwani, R. (Editors).

2008
Proceedings of Taal2007: The 12th World Lake Conference: 1557-1560

Eutrophication : A Case Study of Highly Eutrophicated Lake Udaisagar,

Udaipur (Raj.), India with regards to its Nutrient Enrichment and
Emerging Consequences
R. P. Vijayvergia
Department of Botany, S.M.B. Govt. P.G. College,, Nathdwara, Distt. Rajsamand, (Raj.),India, Pin 313301

ABSTRACT
Present paper embodies a broad limnological investigation of lake Udaisagar of Udaipur (Raj.) with
regard to nutrient enrichment and its consequences. In most of the cases the lotic ecosystem have been
used thoughtlessly as repositories for disposal of domestic sewage, industrial effluents and agricultural
run-off etc., which leads to nutrient enrichment, growth of micro & macrophytic vegetation and
ultimately cause eutrophication.
World famous highly eutrophicated lake Udaisagar is approximately 20 Km away from Udaipur,
the city of the Lakes & Fountains and popularly known as 'Kashmir of Rajasthan'. Lake Udaisagar
receives city sewage, industrial wastes of certain industries of Mewar industrial area and run-off of
agricultural field through river Ahar.
At times heavy algal blooms have been observed which pose serious problem in the water supply
of Debari Zinc Smelter, a factory of Hindustan Zinc Ltd. In view of the above, an attempt was made to
study certain limnological parameters with special reference to eutrophication and its correlated
phenomena.
Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water of American Public Health
Association (APHA) and American Water Works Association (AWWA), (1980) and Mackereth (1963)
were followed.
Results have been discussed with reference to eutrophication and emerging challanges which may
cause drastic effect for well being of human society. The flowering of water in Lake Udaisagar by
Cyanobacteria, Microcystis aeruginosa as one of the dominant plant species indicated the high degree of
eutrophication.
Present research work concludes that Udaisagar is highly eutrophicated and polluted lentic water
body. Ahar river which flows near the ancient ruins of Ahar culture and civilization receives Udaipur
city untreated sewage, industrial effluent of certain industries of Mewar Industrial Area and agricultural
run-off from nearby agricultural fields is a main source of eutrophication in lake Udaisagar.
High concentration of nitrates, phosphates, chlorides, high total alkalinity, high organic matter
contents, total dissolved solids and high temperature greatly contribute to the present deteriorated
situations of world famous beautiful fresh water Udaisagar lake and enhance the process of
eutrophication and correlated phenomena i.e. flowering of water, fish mortality foul odour, blue-green
colouration of water and overall decrease in the recreational values.
Key words: Trophic Status, Sewage, Water
Blue-Green Colouration, Decline Recreational Value.

INTRODUCTION
Lakes are not only a significant source of precious
water but also provide valuable habitats to the
biological world.
Eutrophication and deterioration in water
quality, siltation and consequent shallowing and
shrinking of lakes are major problems and are
assuming alarming proportion in India due to various
anthropogenic activities.
The term eutrophication can popularly be
attributed to weber (1907) who used 'eutrophic' and
'oligotrophic' to describe the conditions of water and
soil solution in German bogs. Eutrophic water is
nutrient rich and oligotrophic water is nutrient poor.
Eutrophication refers to continuous enrichment of
water by the addition of substances that provide for

Bloom,

Fish

Mortality,

Foul

Odour,

the increasing growth of aquatic life.

For undisturbed lakes, eutrophication is
considered by most to be a natural process,
characterized by gradual filling in of the lake basin,
the appearance of 'nuisance' algal blooms,
discolouration of water, fish kills and with geological
time, emergence of marsh land or swamp. Bodies of
water experiencing acceleration of the natural aging
process are often said to be in a state of natural
eutrophication (Hasler,1974).
The excessive amount of nutrients favours the
growth of algae and weeds leading to eutrophication
(Thilaga et al., 2005).
The nutrient enrichment results in diminishing
economic as well as recreational values of rivers
(Chatterjee & Raziuddin, 2001).
Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment causes
serious alteration in aquatic ecosystems (Ansari and

khan, 2006)
Eutrophy is the consequence of a lake's nutrient
enrichment (Saxena, 2007).
Hydrobiological studies of many inland water
bodies of India including lakes of Udaipur have been
conducted by several workers. No systematic work,
however, has been done on the cause and effect of
eutrophication in any of the lakes of Rajasthan or
Udaipur. A great deal of work, however, has been
carried out on eutrophication of various water bodies
of other states of India and those of foreign countries
(Fruh, 1966; Sreenivasan, 1969; Pant et al.,1980;
Zadanowski et al., 1982; Arumugam and Furtado,
1980; Prat and Daroca, 1983; Marshall and Falconer,
1973).
Lake Udaisagar (Udaipur) is the main source of
water supply to the Zinc Smelter, a factory of
Hindusthan Zinc Limited, created at a cost of more
than 100 crore. This lake is getting polluted by
drainage of river Ahar which carries the domestic,
sewage and industrial wastes of Mewar Industrial
area. Deterioration of water quality and interruption
in industrial water supply has caused great concern to
the authorities. Udaisagar lake is now highly
eutrophicated as indicated by water bloom formation
and fish mortality in this lake.
The most serious aspect of the eutrophication of
Udaisagar lake is water bloom formation by
Microcystis aeruginosa in summer and rainy
months. The problem is of great national and local
importance as the study will provide basic
information required to deal with the increasing
problem of eutrophication in many of water bodies of

India. In view of the above present investigation was

carried out with special reference to nutrient
enrichment and emerging consequences from
Jan.1986 to Dec.1986 under the C.S.I.R., New Delhi
research project entitled, "Eutrophication Trends in
and around lakes of Udaipur (Raj). The Lake
Udaisagar was reinvestigated in the year 2006 to
study the current state of nutrient enrichment with
the view to know eutrophication trend since 1986.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Standard methods for the examination of water and
waste water of American Public Health Association
(APHA) and American water works Association
(AWWA) 1980 and Mackereth (1963) were
followed. As a regular feature, the samples were
collected during morning hours (8-11 AM.) in the 2nd
week of every month.
RESULT & DISCUSSION
Seasonal variations in the water characteristics of
lake Udaisagar are presented in Tables I and II for
the year 1986 and 2006 respectively while the
consequences of nutrient enrichment are presented in
Table-III. A close perusal of water characteristics and
consequences reveals that the lake Udaisagar is
towards an increasing state of eutrophy and of much
more deteriorated water quality.

Table I. Seasonal variation in water characteristics of lake Udaisagar during the year 1986.
S.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Water Characteristics
Temperature (OC)
Transparency (meter)
T.D.S.
Chlorides
Total alkalinity
Dissolved Oxygen
Nitrate
Phosphati

Summer
(Mar.-Jun.)
27.12
0.44
587.50
129.22
342.50
4.45
0.45
0.40

Rainy
(Jul.-Oct.)
27.80
0.45
957.50
125.31
257.50
5.28
0.74
0.86

Winter
(Nov.-Feb.)
19.07
0.82
610.00
121.76
313.75
4.68
0.58
0.58

Table II. Seasonal variation in water characteristics of lake Udaisagar during the year 2006.
S. No.

Water Characteristics

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Temperature (OC)
Transparency (meter)
T.D.S.
Chlorides
Total alkalinity
Dissolved Oxygen
Nitrate
Phosphate

Summer
(Mar.-Jun.)
28.12
0.46
600.00
142.20
356.50
5.00
0.50
0.56

Rainy
(Jul.-Oct.)
29.00
0.50
990.00
134.00
271.50
6.50
0.80
0.90

Winter
(Nov.-Feb.)
20.00
0.86
650.00
128.00
321.75
6.00
0.60
0.60

All results except Temperature and Transparency are expressed in ppm (Table-I & II)

1558

Table-III. Consequences of Nutrient enrichment.

S. No.
1
2
3
4
5
6

Consequences
Water Bloom
Fish Mortality
Blue green colouration
Foul Odour
Mosquito Production
Decrease in Recreational value

Summer
Maximum
occured
Maximum
Maximum
Frequent
To the greatest extent

Temperature
The excessive amount of nutrients in the water
bodies along with higher temperature favours the
growth of algae and aquatic weeds. Nutrients vary
with the seasons and are also affected by overturning
of the water, which brings about decomposed bottom
materials to the photosynthetic zone.
Transparency
Transparency determines the photic conditions of the
lake. Summer season was observed to show the
minimum value of transparency for both the year i.e.
1986 and 2006 while winter was the season showing
the maximum transparency. The higher values very
clearly speaks the high level of turbidity of lake
water specially during summer and early monsoon
period.

Rainy
Medium
NiL
Minimum
Not observed
Medium
NiL

Winter
Low
NiL
Medium
Not observed
Not observed
NiL

due to organic matter of animal origin and human

sewage brought by the Ahar river.
Total alkalinity
Moyle (1949) recorded 40 mg L-1 total
alkalinity as a nutural separation point between soft
and hard waters and thus the presently investigated
lake has become almost a hardwater body.
Extraordinary high alkalinity of lake water clearly
speaks of its role in the increasing trend of
eutrophication.
Dissolved oxygen
Determination of dissolved oxygen is a most
common limnological parameter. The lower
concentration of DO in summer in both the years
(1986 & 2006) explain its quick utilization in the
oxidation processes of the lake.

Total Dissolved solids (TDS)

Nitrates & Phosphates
Beeton (1965) attributed an increase in T.D.S. in
some Laurention Greate Lakes over the past 50-60
years to cultural eutrophication and suggested the
separation of oligotrophic and eutrophic lakes on the
basis of T.D.S. values. Oligotrophic lakes have less
than 100 ppm TDS and eutrophic more than 100
ppm. Thus, on the basis of presently observed values
of TDS, Udaisagar lake is of eutrophic type.
Increasing trends of TDS in present study indicates
cultural eutrophication in the lake.
Chlorides
Sreenivasan (1965) is of the opinion that the chloride
concentration between 4 and 10 ppm indicates purity
of water. Chlorides are not utilized for plant growth
and their presence in large amount in the lake water
is regarded as suggestive of pollution by organic
matter.
The high concentration of Chlorides in the lake
Udaisagar suggested heavy pollution of its water. In
the present study chlorides in greater amount in
summer, probably because of the fact that due to
evaporation of water the concentration of chlorides
increases.
Khan et al (1978) indicated in their studies that
an increase in the chloride values may be due to run
off from surrounding catchment area and discharge
of sewage. The pollution in Udaisagar lake is largely

Nitrates and phosphates are better indicator of

eutrophication and a host of workers (Prescott, 1948
and George, 1962) have emphasized the role of high
nitrate and phosphate contents in the formation of
water bloom in impoundments studied by them. In
the present investigation higher values of nitrate and
phosphate in the rainy season in both the year (1986
and 2006) might be responsible for the development
of water bloom by Microcystis aeruginosa and may
have accelerated the process of eutrophication.
The perennial occurrence of Microcystis
aeruginosa in Udaisagar lake might have adverse
effect with regard to clogging of gills and toxic effect
on fish life though there are no such report from
India but it will be worth while to study this problem
in a lake like Udaisagar considering the fish
mortality during water bloom formation. Hughes et
al. (1958) who studied the toxicity of M. aeruginosa
on mice were able to distinguish two distinct lethal
factors, one slow death factor and other a fast death
factor.
Blue green colouration of lake water, foul odour
and massive production of mosquitoes are certian corelated phenomena which were frequently observed
in summer season and high light the much more
deteriorated water quality and high degree of
entrophication.

1559

The increasing trend of eutrophication as

observed in present investigation may adversely
affect the recreational value of the lake as well as the
aquaculture practices which are operated reqularly.
Phosphorus along with nitrogin causes
explosive growth of algal species that leads to
eutrophication (Dwivedi & Panday 2001).
The role of phosphorus in algal growth and
eutrophication has been studied by Peterson et al.
(1974).
CONCLUSION
From the result obtained, it can be concluded that the
lake Udaisagar is a polluted fresh water body due to
the continuous discharge of municipal sewage, run
off from agricultrural fields and industrial effluent of
Mewar industrial estate.
Higher amount of nutrient leads to an
increasing trend of eutrophication. Nutrient
enrichment in the lake changes the conductive
environment of the lake Udaisagar and water has
become almost unfit for drinking & aqua culture. The
periodical survey of the lake is the need of present
day time to find out the water quality and carry out
abatement programs, to check further deterioration of
water quality. The increasing trend of entrophication
may further deteriorate the water quality to greater
extent and may affcet the recreational values of lake
Udaisagar.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author expresses the deepest sence of gratitude
to Dr. Y.D. Tyagi, Ex Prof. of Botany, Sukhadia
University Udaipur for his keen interest and cheerful
guidance through out the present investigation. He is
also grateful to C.S.I.R., New Delhi for providing
financial assistance under the project 'Eutrophication
Trends in and around lakes of Udaipur (Raj.). He is
also grateful to the Principal S.M.B. Govt. P.G.
College Nathdwara for his whole hearted coperation
in varius ways in the later part of this research work.
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