Groundwater quality and availability assessment: A case study of District Jhelum in the Upper Indus, Pakistan

Abstract

People's well-being and their economic development are linked to the availability and accessibility of water. The Pind Dadan Khan tehsil located on the right bank of River Jhelum is a classic example of water stressed confronting water quality and quantity issues. To evaluate usable potential and qualitative variations of groundwater, an integrated approach involving geophysical, water quality and risk assessment techniques was used. Accordingly, groundwater potential zones were categorized. A small shallow fresh groundwater pocket with acceptable water quality (<1.5 dS/m) for a depth between 15 m to 50 m exists in the eastern part of the study area. The groundwater of remaining tehsil was highly saline (TDS: 3852.23±5091.54 mg/L with maximum level up to 23164.03 mg/L). The quality of domestic wells at these 82 sites was unsafe (90%) due to salts, bacteriological contamination (71%), fluoride (45%), arsenic (5%), and nitrate (4%). Compared to these, public water supply schemes show comparatively lower salts (total dissolved solids of 144-2690 mg/L). However, arsenic was found beyond the WHO Drinking water guidelines (10 µg/L) in 65% sources which may pose serious cancer risks for 2 to 5 persons (maximum 12 persons) per 10,000 population.The study reveals that the freshwater in the study area is scarce and of vulnerable quality and require integrated water quantity and quality management. Our results also suggest that in arid to semi-arid regions, scoring factors based on salinity levels and relative size of the saline zone should be incorporated into indicators of water access and availability.