Water characteristics of Kandla creek, monitored seasonally from 2002 to 2006 at four locations (mouth, cargo jetty, oil jetty and junction), indicated significant increases in nutrients, petroleum hydrocarbons (PHc) and phenols from anthropogenic additions, while increases in turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS) and salinity from natural effects.

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.