The demand for fresh spring water recently increased due to intensive domestic, industrial irrigation practices which typically caused depletion of water resources and deterioration of water quality. The spring water quality was analyzed for its major hydrochemistry and hydrochemical evolution of the spring water in the study area. A total of 60 spring water samples were collected from the three kinds of terrain (mountainous, hilly and plain) and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), calcium (Ca 2þ), magnesium (Mg 2þ), sodium (Na þ), potassium (K þ), bicarbonate (HCO 3 À), sulphate (SO 4 2À), chloride (Cl À), nitrate (NO 3 À), and fluoride (F À). The water quality of drinking purposes was plotted in the Piper trilinear diagram which reveals that spring hydrochemistry is dominated by the alkaline earth and weak acids. Gibbs diagram reveals that the spring water chemistry is primarily controlled by rock-water interaction in the investigated region. The water quality index (WQI), 45% of samples fall in the excellent category, 50% of spring samples fall in good categories for drinking purposes. The pH and TDS are within the permissible limit ranges from 7 to 8.4 and 123to 793 respectively. Based on chemical analysis of the various parameters such as non-carbonate hardness, sodium percentage sodium absorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate were calculated to define the quality of spring water for irrigation purposes. The discharge of spring water was also calculated during the pre-monsoon season and found that 70% of samples have discharge more than 20 L per second (Lps).

Groundwater is a vital natural resource in the Kathua region of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Northern India, where it is used for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes. The main purpose of this study was to assess the hydrochemistry of the groundwater and to determine its suitability for drinking, irrigation, and industrial uses in the Kathua region. In this study, 75 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for the physicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids , pH, and various cations and anions. The analyzed data were computed for designing groundwater quality index to know the suitability for drinking purposes. The EC, sodium percentage, permeability index, and magnesium hazard were assessed to evaluate groundwater suitability for irrigation. Further, the corrosivity ratio was assessed to find the groundwater quality criteria for industrial purposes. The comprehensive results obtained from the water quality index indicate that almost all groundwater samples are suitable for drinking. The ionic abundance is in the order of Ca2+ > Na+ > Mg2+ > K+ for cations, and HCO3− > SO42− > Cl− > NO3− for anions, respectively. The Piper diagram shows that hydrochemistry of the groundwater is dominated by alkaline earth metals (Ca2+, Mg2+) and weak acids (HCO3−). According to the Gibbs diagram, the chemistry of groundwater is mainly controlled by the rock–water interaction process, indicating that most of the groundwater samples of the area are of bicarbonate type. The EC results classify the groundwater as excellent to good; the sodium percentage also indicates that the water is fit for irrigation. According to the Wilcox and USSLS diagrams, and permeability index, a majority of samples are suitable for irrigation with a few exceptions. The magnesium hazard depicts that there are few samples (19%), which are unsuitable for irrigation. According to the corrosivity ratio, 65 samples are safe for industrial use while the remaining 10 samples are considered to be unsafe. Thus, it is found that most of the groundwater in the area can be used for drinking, irrigation, and industrial purposes.