Released on = February 27, 2006, 1:48 am

Press Release Author = Ms Papita saha

Industry = Environment

Press Release Summary = Soil Characteristics of different location of Ganga and
Matla are different depending on the flow of river along with its entire path.
Samples soil property of both of these courses has been deteriorating due to release
of agricultural run off, domestic sewage, industrial effluents etc. to water of the
river. The soil receives serious polluting substances through anthropogenic
activities which include organic wastes, toxic chemicals, heavy metals from
industrial effluents etc. Accordingly attempts are made to study the physico -
chemical conditions of soil flowing through different locations of Ganga & Matla
river.

Press Release Body = The Ganga is a holy river in India. It traverses a distance of
507 km in the state of West Bengal and falls into Bay of Bengal. The city of Kokata
and the port of Kolkata located about 128 km inland. A large number of Industries
are situated on the bank of river and their treated and partially treated effluents
are being discharged in river Ganga directly & indirectly. Also a large number of
municipal waste are being discharged and polluted the water of river Ganga as well
as the soil properties also changes. Soil characteristics also changes rapidly
because it depends mainly on climate & pollution parameters. So, it is necessary to
monitor the quality of soil round the year under different weather condition. Seven
strategic locations were chosen for the sampling of soils from Ganga for this
purpose to verify the changes of soil properties. The locations are Khardah,
Agarpara, Dakshineswar, Bagbazar, Babughat, Phalta and Diamond Harbour. The
continuity of Ganga was from North 24-parganas - Kolkata - South 24-Parganas.Soil
sample of Matla river is also collected from Canning, West Bengal to compare the
soil characteristics of the two rivers: Ganga & Matla and to get a clear idea which
soil can be used as liner materials for future study.
Clay % is high for the soil of Matla river than soil of various location of Ganga
river and Permeability is also low for Matla river's soil (3.1 x 10-7 cm/s) than
soil of Ganga river, and collection of soil at various season is easy for both of
cases, we can concluded that soil of Matla river can be used as liner materials for
the hazardous waste landfill for future work, provided we have to go for further
experiments and further treatment of the soil to get the desired characteristics of
a liner for hazardous waste landfill.

Web Site = http://geocities.com/papitasaha

Contact Details = Papita Saha
Lecturer
Biotechnology Dept
ITME College
Diamond Harbour