Abstract
Water quality problems were reported in the groundwaters of Hirehalla Sub-basin, Koppal district, Karnataka, India. 21 representative samples were collected and subjected to hydrochemical investigations. Major cations- Ca, Mg, Na, K and anions- CO 3 , HCO 3 , Cl, SO 4 were analysed. Physical parameters such as pH, EC, TDS, H were also determined. Piper hill trilinear diagram were plotted to study the hydrochemical characters of groundwater and it was found the groundwater to be of class- NaCl and CaMgCl type. Fluoride ion concentration was found to be in the range 0.26 to 6.42 mg/lit. Based on EC values it was found that 61% of water samples fall in excellent category. Drinking use suitability was determined by comparing the analysis results of water samples with BIS and WHO standards and it was found that 65% of the water samples are safe and fit for drinking purposes. Parameters like SAR and Na% were calculated to evaluate the suitability of waters for irrigational purposes. USSL and Wilcox diagram were plotted to determine agriculture suitability. It was found that 90% of the water samples are fit for irrigation. Different spatial variation maps were generated in GIS environs. Thus GIS based approach was efficient tool in assessment of water quality of Hirehalla Sub-basin.
Highlights
The quality of water is one of the major concern and problem of almost all nations of the world
Water samples are classified based on Sarma et al (1982) (Table 3) and it was found that approximately 62% of water samples fall in excellent category followed by 19% each falling in good and permissible category
Physico-chemical analyses result obtained revealed that, based on Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 76% of the water samples are brackish and 85% hard based on hardness
Summary
The quality of water is one of the major concern and problem of almost all nations of the world. Not all of the available water resources on the globe can be used directly for drinking, agriculture and industrial purposes. While of the available limited direct resources many have the problem of water quality some are due to natural processes (geogenic) and others due to anthropogenic activities. Making mankind to explore other source of water such as groundwater to fulfil and meet his demand for different purposes. In this quest of finding water resources, suitable groundwater potential sites are being located and explored. Due to this over-exploitation the water table levels are slowly lingering deeper and deeper. With the irregular trend of monsoons and no other source of recharge the groundwaters are depleting at faster rates
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