Abstract
Freshwater is one of the indispensable resources for the livelihood improvement of people and ecological sustainability. This study aims to assess the hydrochemical characteristics and drinking and irrigational water quality of the Ramsar-listed Begnas Lake and Rupa Lake in the Gandaki Province, Nepal. The results revealed that the water was mildly alkaline in both lakes. The order of ionic dominancy was found to be HCO3− > SO42− > Cl− > NO3− for anions and Ca2+ > Na+ > Mg2+ > K+ for cations in both the lakes. The results showed that ion sources in both lakes were primarily regulated by carbonate type weathering, which was consistent with the results obtained from the (Ca2+ + Mg2+)/total cations and (Ca2+ + Mg2+)/(K+ + Na+) ratios, which had average values of 0.50 and 0.46; and 5.10 and 4.0, respectively, in Begnas Lake and Rupa Lake, respectively. All the irrigational indices showed that the water from both lakes was appropriate for irrigational purposes. The water quality index exhibited that the water in the study lakes was suitable for drinking purposes. The imprints of global climate change and increasing anthropic interferences could be crucial factors for the water quality management of Himalayan lakes in the future.
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The authors are thankful to the Central Department of Environmental Science Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University for providing research facilities. The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Zhang Fan for the arrangement of laboratory support Also, the authors would like to thank Dr. Lekhendra Tripathee for reviewing this manuscript.
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Pant, R.R., Bishwakarma, K., Pal, K.B. et al. Comparative analysis of hydrochemical variables of two Ramsar-listed lakes in Pokhara Valley, Nepal. Int J Energ Water Res 7, 1–13 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42108-022-00204-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42108-022-00204-1