Abstract
The aim of this work is to assess the groundwater quality in Pengyang County based on an improved water quality index. An information entropy method was introduced to assign weight to each parameter. For calculating WQI and assess the groundwater quality, total 74 groundwater samples were collected and all these samples subjected to comprehensive physicochemical analysis. Each of the groundwater samples was analyzed for 26 parameters and for computing WQI 14 parameters were chosen including chloride, sulphate, pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solid (TDS), total hardness (TH), nitrate, ammonia nitrogen, fluoride, total iron (Tfe), arsenic, iodine, aluminum, nitrite, metasilicic acid and free carbon dioxide. At last a zoning map of different water quality was drawn. Information entropy weight makes WQI perfect and makes the assessment results more reasonable. The WQI for 74 samples ranges from 12.40 to 205.24 and over 90% of the samples are below 100. The excellent quality water area covers nearly 90% of the whole region. The high value of WQI has been found to be closely related with the high values of TDS, fluoride, sulphate, nitrite and TH. In the medium quality water area and poor quality water area, groundwater needs some degree of pretreated before consumption. From the groundwater conservation view of point, the groundwater still need protection and long term monitoring in case of future rapid industrial development. At the same time, preventive actions on the agricultural non point pollution sources in the plain area are also need to be in consideration.
Highlights
Groundwater which is used for domestic and industrial water supply and irrigation is vital to local people and industry in semi-arid and arid areas like Pengyang County where groundwater is the main drinking water source
The high value of Water quality index method (WQI) has been found to be closely related with the high values of total dissolved solid (TDS), fluoride, sulphate, nitrite and total hardness (TH)
Water quality index method is an effective tool to assess the status of the drinking groundwater
Summary
Groundwater which is used for domestic and industrial water supply and irrigation is vital to local people and industry in semi-arid and arid areas like Pengyang County where groundwater is the main drinking water source. Tremendous increase in the demand for fresh water due to the rapid growth of population and the accelerated pace of industrialization[1]. Human health is closely related with the groundwater quality and is threatened by the poor quality of groundwater caused by excessive application of fertilizers and unsanitary conditions. Rapid urbanization which caused groundwater pollution has affected the availability and quality of groundwater due to its over exploitation and improper waste disposal. It is hard to stop the pollution and restore the water quality. It becomes imperative to regularly monitor the quality of groundwater and to device ways and means to protect it
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