Water quality assessment of Fort lake of Belgaum (Karnataka) with special reference to zooplankton.

Study on limnobiotic status of the Fort lake water was made to assess the potability of water from Feb 1998 to Jan 1999. Fort lake exhibits high alkalinity with pH ranging from 8.36 (June) to 10.6 (Feb and March), total alkalinity (TA) from 88 to 188 mg/l, total hardness (TH) from 59.8-217 mg/l, PO4 (7.2 to 13.6 mg/l and BOD (42.6-60.6 mg/l). From the observations it can be known that the Fort lake water is inferior and not suitable for drinking purposes. The possible factors for its poor quality have been discussed.