Abstract
The water quality study of Salem district, Tamil Nadu has been carried out to assess the water quality for domestic and irrigation purposes. For this purpose, 59 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), major anions (HCO3−, CO3−, F−, Cl−, NO2− + NO3−, and SO42−), major cations (Ca2+ Mg2+, Na+, and K+), alkalinity (ALK), and hardness (HAR). To assess the water quality, the following chemical parameters were calculated based on the analytical results, such as Piper plot, water quality index (WQI), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), magnesium hazard (MH), Kelly index (KI), and residual sodium carbonate (RSC). Wilcox diagram represents that 23% of the samples are excellent to good, 40% of the samples are good to permissible, 10% of the samples are permissible to doubtful, 24% of the samples are doubtful unsuitable, and only 3% of the samples are unsuitable for irrigation. SAR values shows that 52% of the samples indicate high-to-very high and low-to-medium alkali water. KI values indicate good quality (30%) and not suitable (70%) for irrigation purposes. RSC values indicate that 89% of samples are suitable for irrigation purposes. MH reveals that 17% suitable and 83% samples are not suitable for irrigation purposes and for domestic purposes the excellent (8%), good (48%), and poor (44%). The agricultural waste, fertilizer used, soil leaching, urban runoff, livestock waste, and sewages are the sources of poor water quality. Some samples are not suitable for irrigation purposes due to high salinity, hardness, and magnesium concentration. In general, the groundwater of the Salem district was polluted by agricultural activities, anthropogenic activities, ion exchange, and weathering.
Highlights
The groundwater chemistry is the essential factor, which is permitting its use for irrigation, domestic, and industrial.Most of the population in the world depends on groundwater for daily uses
To assess the water quality, the following chemical parameters were calculated based on the analytical results, such as Piper plot, water quality index (WQI), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), magnesium hazard (MH), Kelly index (KI), and residual sodium carbonate (RSC)
Water chemistry of the Salem district highly reflects the primary sources from weathering of rocks and its minerals, with secondary dominance of anthropogenic activities
Summary
The groundwater chemistry is the essential factor, which is permitting its use for irrigation, domestic, and industrial.Most of the population in the world depends on groundwater for daily uses. The hydro-geochemical method can be used for identifying the interaction between rocks and waters (Basavarajappa and Manjunatha 2015; Qiyan and Baoping 2002; Zhang et al 2001; Poroshin and Khaninak 2000; Cai et al 1997). Developing countries, such as India, have extensive spectral differences of topographical, hydrological, meteorological, geomorphological, hydro-geological, and geological conditions (Kumar et al 2015; Ahamed et al.2013; Singh et al 2014a, b). The aim of the present study is to demarcate the groundwater quality of the study area using geospatial and geostatistical tools
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