Multivariate and Directional Probe into Possible Causes and Status of Incidence of Enteric Diseases in Varanasi City
by
Manju Pandey
Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 200 005, India

From time immemorial almost all the untreated industrial waste and domestic discharges are being flown into the rivers in this country. The fast growing industrialization and urbanization during post independence period has, therefore, led to an enormous quality degradation of the Indian river system. The holy city of Varanasi on the left bank of the river Ganges draws about 50% of water for household consumption of the inhabitants. Before distribution the Water Works, Varanasi, checks, tests an accordingly cleans the supplied water including that procured from the Ganges.

Despite this, often there are incidences of outbreak of enteric diseases in the city and it seems that such events occur almost at regular time intervals and there are a few areas of the city more prone to this . It is an established fact that enteric diseases are mainly water borne . If contaminated water is used for drinking , food processing, washing utencils and hands etc. the food taken is also contaminated. It was therefore, planned to investigate if there is a relationship between the level of water pollutants ' concentration in the Ganges upstream(U/S) and incidence of enteric diseases in this city. The data collected for a period of January 1996 to December 1998 indicated a very highly significant relationship (multiple correlation , R = .7). In this paper we try to investigate if there are some other factors also than water pollution , responsible for incidence of enteric diseases and to identify the city areas more prone to such occurrences,by cluster analysis and through Directional data approach.

Date received: November 9, 2000