Appraisal of Water Quality Measurements for Canal and Tube Well Water Systems for Agriculture Irrigation in Rechna Doab, Pakistan

Abstract

The present study was an attempt to assess the surface and ground water quality for irrigation suitability inRechna Doab. Irrigation water quality at canals and tube well water were analyzed by physicochemical parametersincluding pH, Electric Conductivity (EC), important cations such as Calcium (Ca2+) Magnesium (Mg2+), Potassium (K+),Sodium (Na+), important anions such as Chloride (Cl-), Bicarbonate (HCO3-), Sulphate (SO42-), three heavy metalsincluding Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni) and Copper (Cu). Twelve water samples were collected from the main canals (LowerGogera canal, Jhang branch canal and Rakh branch canal) while fifty water samples were collected from the tube wells.Statistically, data were analyzed by generating correlation coefficients. Canal water quality parameters i.e. SodiumAdsorption Ratio (SAR), Magnesium Adsorption Ratio (MAR), Sodium Percentage (Na %), Kelly Ratio (KR), SolubleSodium Percentage (SSP), Residual Sodium Bicarbonate (RSBC), Permeability Index (PI) and Potential Salinity (PS)with their mean values 0.16,38.18, 8.03, 0.08, 10.17, 0.08, 28.34 and 0.024 respectively were calculated. Piper and Durovdiagrammatic representations provided the suitability of the canal water regarding ionic composition. Results revealedthat the status of the canal water was fit for agriculture. On the contrary, the data about Electric Conductivity (EC),Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) of tube well water (with their maximum values4.80, 29.65 and 13.60, respectively) was exceeding the FAO limits owing of sodium hazards. Thus, the scenario ofgroundwater is alarming due to unfit status of tube well water regarding irrigation purposes. Out of total 50 water samplesof tube wells, 11 samples were found to be fit. While 39 samples were unfit for crop irrigation. Geo-statistical analysiswas performed by using Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) technique created in Arc map.