Abstract

• This paper is concerned with investigation of the water quality of Sittaung River in Taungoo area during 2011 to 2015.Water samples were collected at the periods of post-monsoon and pre-monsoon. Higher total alkalinity values of 130 ±15 ppm was observed in pre-monsoon periods compared to post-monsoon periods(100± 10)ppm. No significant difference of total hardness was observed between two collection periods. Total dissolved solids values in pre-monsoon periods were higher than the post monsoon periods. Positive correlation between total dissolved solids and temperature (r = 0.608) and also total suspended solids and temperature (r =0.766) were regarded as strong. Electrical conductivity values were less than 250 μS/ cm and it was classified as excellent for irrigation purpose. Higher dissolved oxygen values (4.8±1.0 ppm) were found in post-monsoon periods compared to those in pre-monsoon periods (3.4±0.9ppm).Both biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand were far below the permissible limit. Nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen in river water for both collection periods were below the permissible limit. However, phosphate contents were slightly higher than the permissible level of 0.01 ppm. Lower sodium hazard of Sittaung river water was found so that river water did not pose problem on plant cultivation. Most of the chemical properties of the Sittaung River water in post-monsoon periods and pre-monsoon periods were different significantly. Data analysis were performed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0.Correlation analysis among variables was performed by using Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the strength of the relationship between some variables.