Impacts of culture-wise shrimp farming activities on hydrogeochemistry: a case study from Chidambaram taluk, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Shrimp farming is one of the most important aquaculture practices in terms of area, production, employment and foreign exchange generation in India. In recent years, the growth and intensification of shrimp farms in the study area have been explosive, and setting up of new shrimp farms along the coastal areas has also become a matter of apprehension among the environmentalists. An extensive survey made by environmentalists elsewhere shows mixed opinion, but ascertains the real scenario as facts. A total of about 46 groundwater samples were collected in five phases: pre-culture, summer culture, immediately after summer harvest (IASH), winter culture and immediately after winter culture, respectively. The results revealed that the high value of TDS, Na, Cl and Br is observed in IASH, and also, the spatial distribution map confirmed that higher concentration is observed near to the creek and sea. Moreover, the abundance of these ions is in the following order: Na > Ca > Mg > k and Cl > HCO3 > SO4 > CO3 > NO3 > Br for different culture periods, respectively. Piper diagram depicts that the groundwater was controlled by ion exchange reactions. Further, Chadha’s classification revealed that the reverse ion exchange was the dominated feature, and it is supported by various ionic indices such as Na/Cl versus EC, (Ca + Mg) versus (SO4 + HCO3), (Na–Cl) versus (Ca + Mg–HCO3–SO4), (Ca + Mg) versus Cl and Na/Cl versus Cl, respectively. The result of factor analysis shows that most of the variations are elucidated by the seawater intrusion, rock–water interactions and anthropogenic activities during different culture periods. The spatial distribution map of factor scores clearly delineates that the positive values are observed near to the creek and sea and in that, shrimp farming area is not predominated. R-mode cluster analysis shows that groundwater quality does not vary extensively as a function of culture periods. Moreover, Q-mode classification consists of two clusters: the first cluster has a high saline water concentration comprising samples location near to the creek and sea. The second cluster mainly depends upon rock–water interactions and the majority of shrimp farming area are grouped under these categories. The above statements clearly indicate that groundwater parameters mainly depend upon the geological process and that shrimp farming cannot be targeted as the root cause for groundwater salinization.