Quality assessment of groundwater at Laksar Block, Haridwar in Uttarakhand, India using Water Quality Index: A case study

Abstract

Urbanization and industrialization enhance the degradation of the groundwater quality due to the discharge of domestic and industrial effluents in the aquatic bodies or on the surface of ground either in treated or untreated form. Therefore, the present study was carried out to assess the groundwater quality at the Laksar block of district Haridwar in Uttarakhand. Groundwater samples (SS-1-10) were collected from the hand pumps of the study area. The sampling site (SS-1) was taken as control. The distance of all sampling sites from control site ranged from 6.3Km to 18.3Km. The samples were analyzed for various physicochemical parameters viz Temperature, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Solids (TS), pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Total Hardness (TH), Calcium Hardness (CaH), Chloride (Cl), Sulphate (SO4--), Nitrate (NO3---), Acidity, and Iron (Fe) for two years (2017 to 2019).  The data obtained after analysis was simplified using Water quality index (WQI). The maximum concentration of TDS, TS, TH, CaH, and Fe was observed at SS-6 that may be due to the direct industrial discharge of Sugar mill effluent on the ground. Based on WQI value, SS-6 (WQI value-150.27) was found most polluted site. Hardness was found above the standard limit (250mg/l) at SS-6 to SS-10. The Fe was also found above the standard limit of WHO and BIS (0.3mg/l) at SS-6 to SS-10. The study may be useful for managing the groundwater quality of the study area.