Abstract:
Industries can be a huge source of water pollution and extremely harmful
effects could be produced when there are no proper effluent discharge
mechanisms. Residents in the Mabima West, Pattivila North and Pattivila
South Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions of the Biyagama Divisional
Secretary‘s Division in Sri Lanka also have health problems due to the
water pollution in this area. Some years ago, the Pattiwila canal, which is
a stream running through these GN Divisions was directly connected to
the livelihood of the people living in Mabima and the Pattiwila region but
today the water quality of this canal has been negatively affected by the
wastewater discharges from several industrial activities of the study area.
Sapugaskanda oil refinery, Sapugaskanda diesel power plant and gas
filling industries are most possible effluent discharge sources to the
Pattiwila canal.
The present study was carried out to investigate the spatial variation of
water quality in the study area using surface interpolation method and
compare with relevant water quality standards. Fourteen water quality
parameters of surface and ground water in seven sampling sites were
analyzed according to the standard procedures. Data was interpolated
using ArcGIS 9.1 software and Inverse distance weighting (IDW) method
was used as the surface interpolation method.
Results indicated that, oil and grease levels in water exceed the water
quality standard for use as raw water for public water supplies and
drinking purposes. It is not safe to use water as raw water for public water
supplies, drinking purposes and irrigation and agriculture purposes
without proper treatment, especially for oil and grease.
