Assessment of Groundwater Quality using Water Quality Index, and Geo-Spatial Tools

Abstract

Groundwater is considered a significant component of valuable freshwater resources for the living beings living in the arid and semi-arid regions of Pakistan, factors such as climate change, landfill deposits, application of fertilizers and pesticides on agricultural lands, leakages from septic tanks, industrial effluents, and urbanization jeopardizing the groundwater quality that makes its timely assessment necessary for human survival to protect people from water-borne diseases. This research study was carried out to analyze the 13 physicochemical parameters in the 38 groundwater samples that were taken from nearby different locations of Akram, Pinyari, and Phuleli canal within the jurisdiction of district Hyderabad. 26 samples were taken from hand pumps, electric motors and 12 samples were taken from tube wells to investigate the variability in groundwater quality. The water quality index and kelly’s ratio, magnesium hazard, residual sodium carbonate, sodium absorption ratio, soluble sodium percentage, and permeability index were used to assess the suitability of groundwater for drinking, and agricultural purposes. The result of the study revealed that alkalinity, bicarbonates, carbonates, magnesium, PH, potassium, and sodium were within the permissible limit of WHO Standards in all the samples, while the concentration of calcium was crossing the permissible limit only in one sample. Moreover, the availability of Chloride (Cl) was found in 16 samples that were above the limit ranges from 274.9 to 2549, High concentration of EC was found in 14 samples than the permissible limit having values from 2212 to 8360 (P26), and Total Hardness (TH) were found only in 6 samples slightly high from the permissible limit ranges from 509 to 651, and TDS were present in excessive amounts than the allowable limit from 1100 to 4180 mg/l (P26) in 10 samples. Considering the Water Quality Index (WQI) it was observed that 8 sample falls in the good category, 2 samples in the poor category, 11 samples in the very poor category, and 17 samples in the unsuitable category of water quality.