Executive Summary : | In India, the high concentration levels of Mn are sporadic in nature and have been reported mainly from Bengal basin, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, UP, Bihar and NE India. There are reports of harmful effects on children’s intellectual functions and development negative outcomes on foetal expansion birth outcome and of amplified infant mortality. Mn can be easily concerted in the brain, especially in the basal ganglia and can be a reason for an irreversible neurological syndrome similar to that of Parkinson’s sickness. Mn deposits cause issues in drinking water systems from increased tuberculation in pipes and coating development in concrete tanks. Therefore, by keeping the aforementioned issues in the background, the research proposal intends to examine the characteristics of occurrence of elevated Mn in ponds, lakes, wetlands, rivers and shallow groundwater samples of Imphal valley in order to elucidate insights into the occurrence, spatial distribution and impact on health crops, fish and environment. The demand for water in this valley comes from different stakeholders such as pond water is widely used for domestic and local crop farming. Wetland or lake water is used for fish farming. Rivers and canal waters are used for irrigation and industrial purposes such as brick field, mineral water factories etc. The major sources of water in the valley have been mainly surface water bodies such as ponds, lakes, rivers, wetland and large part as groundwater. The rapid increase in population with a growing rate of 15.49%, fast city expansion, urbanization and higher living standard result in increasing demand for water. Despite of this ever-increasing demand, people are relying on these water resources for different purposes. In the present proposal, field and laboratory based methods will be adopted using different equipment such as potable handheld digital multiparameter water testing kits, titration kits, spectrophotometer, ion-chromatograph, atomic absorption spectrophotometer, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry etc. for testing various constituents in water. The proposal will establish the missing gap in the current research on elevated Mn and its characteristics with respect to its effect in health and environment which in turn help in sustainable development and management of water resources available in the Imphal valley of northeast India. |