Assessing the Water Quality of Hatirjheel Lake of Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Excessive and unplanned growth of urbanization caused severe environmental degradation. Lakes are important ecosystems because of the variety of uses for their water, including industrial, recreational, agricultural, and water retention. Hatirjheel Lake became one of the famous recreational destinations in Dhaka, Bangladesh and due to this reason, the water quality has deteriorated; therefore, it is necessary to monitor the water quality regularly. This paper aims to assess the water quality of Hatirjheel Lake to find out its present state. Water samples were collected from five different sampling points based on sources of pollution by the purposive sampling method. The water sample has been analyzed for various physiochemical parameters, including Color, Odor, Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), and Total Suspended Solid (TSS) and also calculated the correlation between parameters. From the overall analysis, it is evident that six types of color and strong odor were found, and water temperature varied from 30 degrees C to 31 degrees C, pH varied from 6.35 to 7.16, DO varied from 2.80 to 4.42 mg/L, EC from 0.6 to 0.7 dS/m, TDS varied from 577 to 680 mg/L, and TSS varied from 2.41 to 5.61 mg/L. Moreover, interpreting the findings in the context of comparison with previous studies, the results collectively suggest a decline in water quality, highlighting the need for immediate attention and intervention. Therefore, inclusive public consciousness, and government monitoring must be adopted to save the quality of water in Hatirjheel Lake.