Water is the elixir of life because life cannot exist without it, and rivers are vital to our culture and economy. River contamination with pollutants is a major problem both in India and abroad because it not only has an impact on animals' and people's health but also on the nation's overall economy. Sustainable water management aims to guarantee that there is an adequate supply of pure, fresh drinking water for present and future generations, as well as for household, agricultural, industrial, and other sector uses. This article covers a substantial number of studies given by different scholars on river water contamination in India and overseas by critically assessing and evaluating data on the major physical and chemical variables. It finds that the river water in India and abroad is highly polluted in physical, chemical, and bacteriological terms, with different hazardous pollutants, including both chemical and microbial, coming from a variety of sources such as industries, In addition, following thorough examination and interpretation of the data and debates presented in several research articles, this work identifies and describes the interaction among various physicochemical characteristics. Dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH have an antagonistic relationship with temperature, turbidity, and autotrophic photosynthesis, respectively. Additionally, the relationship between temperature and free carbon dioxide and WQI is direct. This paper effort offers thoughts and recommendations to explain the experimental findings using common ideas and describes a concise protocol for the evaluation of river water contamination.