Physico-chemical properties and minerals status is an important decisive factor for assessment of drinking water quality. There is no report on this aspect for drinking water of high altitude areas, therefore, the present investigation was carried out to evaluate different physico-chemical parameters and certain essential minerals status in drinking water samples. These water samples were collected from different sources like deep tube well, spring water, and river water from different villages of Leh District, Jammu & Kashmir, India. These samples were analyzed for physico-chemical parameters viz. temperature, pH, dissolve oxygen, free carbon dioxide, alkalinity, hardness, chloride, phosphate, sulphate, and nitrate according to standard methods. Similarly, all the essential minerals viz. sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, sulphur, and manganese were analyzed by using Inductive Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Results were compared with the standard limits of WHO guidelines. The result of this investigation indicated that among all the physico-chemical parameters, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity and hardness were above the desirable level at some places as per WHO standards. Whereas chloride, nitrate and sulphate level were lower in all the water collected from different sources. Among all the minerals, iron, potassium and aluminium level were above and sodium, magnesium, and manganese were lower than the desirable level at all the different altitude as per WHO standards. Interestingly, chloride, sodium, sulphur and aluminium level were high in Indus river water collected from the nearby City area. Therefore, it can be concluded that water sources near the City area are more contaminated than the other sites. Hence, present findings indicated variation in physico-chemical parameters and mineral status of water of different sources of high altitude Himalayan region. More or less, the quality of drinking water is suitable for consumption except the hardness and aluminium level.

Keywords: high altitude, minerals, physico-chemical, water

Water is an essential component of our food and contributes to many minerals nutrients, too.^1,2 Important natural sources of water are surface water such as lakes, streams, river, pond, etc. and ground water such as bore well and wells.³ Quality fresh water is essential for agriculture, industry, domestic use, and drinking purpose for human and animals.⁴ Water quality depends upon the physical, chemical, minerals, and biological characteristics of water.⁵ Hence, animal and human health as well as sustainable agricultural and industrial development will not be possible without availability of quality fresh water in adequate quantity.⁶ There is limitation in water availability at Himalayan region of high altitude. In general, water sources are less anthropogenic contaminated in Himalayan region as compared to plain areas due to poor industrial growth and low human population with comparison to plain areas. However, in recent years due to increase in human population, tourism, and industrialization, water sources are brink of contamination on indiscriminate waste disposal. Leaching of this water into ground water at different strata of rock further contribute to ground water contamination.^7-9 Recently, due to environmental pollution, several surface water sources are not acceptable for drinking as these are often contaminated with various organic, inorganic, and microbial agents.^6,7,10-14 According to WHO, about 80% of all the diseases in human beings are caused by water? It is therefore becomes imperative to regularly monitor the quality of water and to device ways and means to protect it.¹⁵ Our, earlier reports on soil, water and fodder minerals status indicated deficiency or excess of some minerals at high altitude.^16,17 Since, physico-chemical properties and mineral status are interlinked with mineral availability of water. The composition of surface and groundwater vary with the altitude, topography, hydrological and biological present in the drainage basin.^18,19 Therefore, evaluation of different sources of water collected from different altitude is essential for knowing their suitability for drinking purpose. Since, there are no reports on water quality of high altitude collected from different sources; therefore it is important to evaluate physico-chemical properties and minerals status. Therefore, we investigated physico-chemical parameters and some minerals in all the water collected from different sources at high altitude. This study will help in identification of good water sources and developing remedial measures for water resource management at high altitude.       

Study area

In this study, tube well water (26 total sites), spring water (02 total sites) and river water (05 total sites) were collected from different sites/places at different altitude of Leh district, Jammu & Kashmir, India. Collection sites are located in the cold, arid Himalayan region of India, where the altitude varies between 3048-3658 m above mean sea level (MSL), and latitude is 34.1°N and longitude is 77.57°E. Different altitude, latitude and longitude of all the sampling sites/places were recorded by GPS system and distance of sites/places from main city/industry were given in Table 1.

Preparation of water samples

 The water samples were collected from different sites in plastic bottles, which were previously washed with detergents and HNO₃ acid and later rinsed with sampled water several times. 2M HNO₃ was added to samples for metallic ions determination to maintain the stability of the oxidation state of the various elements in solution and prevent precipitation.

Analysis of physico-chemical and minerals parameters

All the water samples were analyzed for temperature, pH, dissolve oxygen, free carbon dioxide, alkalinity, hardness, chloride, phosphate, sulphate, nitrate, sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, sulphur, manganese and aluminium of tube well, spring water and river water as per standard procedures used for water analysis. All the analytical methods are briefly described below and given in Table 2.

The pH of the water samples was measured by using the Microprocessor pH instrumental method and temperature was taken from this instrument. DO was determined by Winkler method.²⁰ Free carbon di oxide and alkalinity were estimated by Titrimetric method.²¹ Total Hardness and calcium hardness was determined by complexometric titration using Eriochrome Black-T as an indicator by EDTA method and Chloride was estimated by Mohr’s method using AgNO₃ solution and Potassium Chromate as an indicator.²¹ Sulphates and Nitrates were estimated by UV-Visible Spectrophotometer,²² whereas inorganic phosphates were determined by UV-Visible Spectrophotometric method²¹ All the minerals viz .Ca, Na, K, Mg, Mn, Fe, S and Al level were estimated by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) (Perkin-Elmer Analyst, Optima 7000 DV).

Mean six samples collected from each sites of different water sources were calculated by Microsoft excel worksheet and all the analyzed data were compared with recommended World Health Organization (WHO) standard values given in Table 3.²³

 In general there was wide variation in physico-chemical parameters and mineral status of water samples among different sites of collection (Table 4-6 & Figure 1-4). The temperature of all the water samples was 18.5°C. Minimum level of pH of the entire water sample was 5 and maximum level was 6. The level of dissolved oxygen (DO) was high in the Indus river water (at the site which belong to the below 3500 m and lowest range was found in the tube well water at the same region (Figure 2). In all the samples free carbon di-oxide level varies from 11.60 to 19.20 mg/L. Average level of alkalinity was higher near the city site’s river water sample than the other sources of water samples (Table 4 & Figure 3).

Figure 1 Mean total hardness (TDS) level of three water sources compared with standard value of WHO guideline.

Figure 2 Mean calcium level of three water sources compared with standard value of WHO guideline.

Figure 3 Mean iron level of three water sources compared with standard value of WHO guideline.

Figure 4 Mean aluminium level of three water sources compared with standard value of WHO guideline.

Mean level of calcium and magnesium were high in tube well water as compared to river and spring water in all the different altitude. However, chloride, sodium and sulphur level were high in Indus river water collected from the nearby city area. Whereas, level of iron was more or less same in tube well water and Indus river water collected from different sites. In spring water, nitrate and manganese were high than the other sources. Aluminium level was nearly same in all the sources but that was more than the prescribed value of WHO guidelines in all the different altitudinal places (Table 5). In present study, no difference was recorded as per WHO guidelines of temperature, pH, carbon dioxide and dissolved oxygen. These parameters are important indices of quality water.^2,24 Dissolved oxygen (DO) is very important parameter in water assessment.²⁵ DO is governed by the water turbulence, surface diffusion, rate of photosynthesis, biological oxygen demand (BOD), water temperature, and carbon dioxide concentration.^26,27 The Alkalinity of water is its capacity to neutralize a strong acid. It is normally due to the presence of carbonates, bicarbonates and hydroxides compounds of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Na⁺.²⁸ Water bodies having total alkalinity above 50mg/l can be considered productive. Therefore, in the study area it might be said that water sources are highly productive.²⁹ Hardness is the property of water, which is due to the salts of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺.^28,30 Level of hardness was higher in most sampling sites than the desirable limits prescribed by WHO. Low magnesium level and high hardness value in the study sites indicates that hardness is mainly due to calcium level. Chlorides usually occur as NaCl, CaCl₂, MgCl₂, and in widely varying concentration in all natural water.³¹ An increase in the number of chloride (Cl^-) content of water may indicate possible pollution from human sewage, animal manure or industrial wastes.³²

In the present study, chloride concentration was below the permissible level of WHO guidelines. Therefore, water might be free from domestic waste. Mn is often associated with calcium in all kinds of waters, but its concentration remains generally lower than the calcium.³³ Phosphate (PO₄^-) may occur in groundwater because of domestic sewage, detergents, agricultural effluents with fertilizers and industrial waste water.³⁴ The phosphate content in most of the study area was not detectable. It was only found in Indus river water sample site (site no. 1), which is located near the main city. Therefore, it can be said that discharge of domestic sewage, detergents, factorial wastage from the City causes to presence of phosphate in the river water. Sulphate (SO₄^-) occurs naturally in water because of leaching from gypsum and other common minerals.³⁵ Low level of sulphate in the study area indicating low level of leaching from gypsum and other sulphur sources, Nitrate (NO₃^-) being the highly oxidized form of nitrogen compounds, which is present in the surface and groundwater sources.³⁶ In our study, nitrate concentration was below the permissible limit in all sources of water. Therefore, it might be said that drinking water might be free from hazardous effects of highnitratelevel.

Sodium (Na⁺) concentration plays an important role in evaluating the groundwater quality for irrigation because sodium causes an increase in the hardness of soil as well as a reduction in its permeability.³⁷ For the low level of sodium concentration in the study area, cultivation might be affected. The major source of potassium (K) in natural fresh water is weathering of rocks but the quantities increase in the polluted water due to disposal of waste water.³⁸ Average potassium level was higher in the nearby city area. Therefore, it can be said that, disposal of waste water in water sources nearby city area is more than the other area. Ruminants are largely depending on non protein nitrogen sources, such as urea, biuret, or ammonium phosphate. Inadequate level of sulfur in the study area might be effect on the feed intake, digestibility, rate of weight gain, and milk production.³⁹ In this study, low levels of Mn can potentially lead to a decrease in overall animal growth.⁴⁰ In most of the analyzed water samples, iron and aluminium were above the permissible limit. Most groundwater contains iron and aluminum in trace amounts in practically all sediments and rock formations.^38,41 So it may have adverse effect on long-term consumption of these water.^42,43 Hence, these findings indicated contamination of some water sources at certain sites, which seem to be investigated in time-to-time for devising some remedial measures. As this is a first report on water quality at high altitude, however further studies are required to analyze more samples collected across the location in different seasons for comprehensive understanding of these variations in physico-chemical and mineral parameters.

The present investigation findings indicated variation in physico-chemical parameters and mineral status of water of different sources. Further, there was wide variation among different sources of water. Physical parameters like alkalinity and hardness were higher than WHO standard level at different altitude. Among minerals, iron, potassium and aluminium level were more than the prescribed limits by WHO. Interestingly, chloride, sodium, sulphur and aluminium level were high in Indus river water collected from the nearby City area. Therefore, it can be concluded that water sources near the City area are more contaminated than the other sites in high altitude Himalayan region. More or less, the quality of drinking water is suitable for consumption except the hardness and aluminium level.

None.

The author declares no conflict of interest.

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