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Physico-chemical characteristics of the coastal water off Devi estuary, Orissa and evaluationof its seasonal changes

Devi estuary is one of the major tributaries of the Mahanadi riverine system in Orissa. Modernization and industrialization in its neighbourhood in the north in the recent past have greatly influenced many tributaries of the Mahanadi and the adjacent coastal environments. To trace the influence of this modernization activity further down south off Devi estuary and to understand the quality of the Devi estuarine water reaching the coastal region, investigations on physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen), including dissolved nutrients (PO4-P, NO3-N, NO2-N, SiO4-Si) were carried out in the water off the mouth of the Devi estuary, during different months of the summer and winter seasons in 2006