Sustainable Supply of Spring Water as a Social Challenge: A study of Seasonal Variations at Sikkim

Abstract

- The common source of drinking water in the rural areas of east Sikkim is dhara, the natural spring. Owing to derive environmental factors such as rain water, landslide, soil erosion, waste from human and animal, it gets polluted directly or indirectly the water sources. The natural spring water from the selected areas are analysed in terms of physical parameters. Physical properties like temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, total dissolved solids, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and hardness. The objective of the study is to determine the quality of natural spring water used for drinking and other domestic purpose in the rural areas of east Sikkim. All the observed values are compared with the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) guidelines. All the physical parameters are found within the
permissible limit of Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) in all the three seasons. ANOVA and Correlation matrix reflect variations across seasons and moderate correlation across two phases of the study.