Water resources play a crucial role in ecosystems and human development. However, due to various human activities and the overuse of these resources, they are gradually becoming polluted. This is why it’s important to regularly monitor the condition of our natural resources, especially water.
This study focused on analyzing the physicochemical properties of the Pantal River’s water. The parameters examined included salinity, temperature, pH, biological oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, total dissolved solids, and concentrations of ammonia, phosphate, and nitrite at different points along the river.
The research also aimed to identify any significant differences in these properties across five different stations along the river. The study used a combination of random systematic sampling to assess the water’s physicochemical characteristics and purposive sampling to select the stations.
Water samples were collected from five stations: Station I behind the NBI office, Station II behind Guadis Elementary School, Station III behind Dagupan Electric Corporation, Station IV behind Air Solution Emission Center, and Station V behind Lyceum Northwestern University General High School Building. Each station was 100 meters apart. The collected samples were then analyzed at the Limnology Department of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Dagupan City.
The data was analyzed using a One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results from BFAR showed the following mean values for the physicochemical parameters: temperature at 29.06°C, pH at 7.9, dissolved oxygen at 4.5 mg/l, turbidity at 26 NTU, total hardness at 560.20 mg/l, total suspended solids at 20.73 mg/l, biological oxygen demand at 3.85 mg/l, phosphate at 0.135 mg/l, nitrite at 0.513 mg/l, and ammonia at 0.22 mg/l. The ANOVA computed an f-value of 0.046.
The study concluded that there is no significant difference in the physicochemical characteristics of the water across the five stations. The results indicated that the parameters were within the limits set by the World Health Organization and the Indian Council of Medical Research, although some were not. The values remained consistent across the stations.
