Beach Quality of Chennai City, Southeast India

The study area Chennai is a metropolitan city in the south east coast of India which extends up to 120 km. The second largest sandy beach is located in this area. The Landuse pattern is dominated by the residential and industrial categories. The coastal side being occupied by large scale industrial complexes in the north and residential resorts in the southern side of the city. pH, EC, TDS, Li+, NH4+, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ as cations and F-, Br-, NO3-, NO2-, SO42- ,PO34-, Cl- as anions have been analyzed in the coastal water samples collected during April 2009 (premonsoon) and January 2010 (postmonsoon) from 52 sampling stations along the coast seawater that is under the influences of natural and anthropogenic changes. The results indicated that the parameter sets indicated value changes due to seasonal variation. The overall results of the study indicated that some untreated effluent discharges and municipal sewage in to Ennore Creek, Adyar, Coovum, which carries pollutants in huge quantity in the northern part of the Chennai that are transported by the long shore currents to the southern part and further south.