The present investigation was conducted to assess the characteristics of textile effluent and its effect on water quality of a sub canal originated from Upper Ganga Canal at Haridwar. The samples were collected before the confluence (control) and after discharge of textile effluent from S, S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 located at 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 m distance from the confluence point. The results revealed that disposal of textile effluent showed high pollution level in terms of physico-chemical and microbiological parameters viz. temperature (29.58 oC), turbidity (39.56 NTU), TS (1580 mg L -1), EC (2.45 mg L -1), BOD (864.34 mg L -1), COD (1245.36 mg L -1), Cl- (832.78 mg L -1), total phosphorus (212.76 mg L -1), nitrate nitrogen (124.86 mg L -1), SO4 2- (135.46 mg L -1), Cd (1.96 mg L -1), Cu (2.88 mg L -1), Cr (1.12 mg L -1), Fe (4.56 mg L -1), Ni (1.76 mg L -1), Mn (0.68 mg L -1), Pb (0.89 mg L -1), Zn (1.34 mg L -1), SPC (4.8 × 106 SPC ml -1) and FC (6.7 × 106 FC 100 ml -1) at confluence point. Discharge of textile effluent significantly change (P<0.05) in temperature, turbidity, TS, EC, BOD, COD, Cl-, total phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen, SO4 2-, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Ni, Mn, Pb, Zn, SPC and FC of water at all the sampling sites S, S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 in comparison to control. The water quality index (WQI) rating of sub canal water was of medium and after discharge of textile effluent it turned to very bad. Thus, the textile effluents considerably deteriorated the quality of sub canal water.