Appraisal of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purpose using GIS and statistical approach with special reference to nitrate contamination in a semi-arid region: A case study

Abstract

Groundwater contamination has become an environmental issue all around the world. The specific objective of the present study is to evaluate the risk assessment of groundwater for nitrate contamination and in addition to assess the suitability of groundwater for domestic and irrigation purposes in the semi-arid region. Thirty sample locations were identified based on the more active industrial and high-densified residential regions in the study area. To evaluate the drinking and irrigation fitness of groundwater by analysed water quality parameters such as pH, Electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, Total hardness, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, sulphate, fluoride, carbonate and bicarbonate. According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2011 and Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) 2012 standards, the GIS Spatial analysis of groundwater parameters was carried out to identify each parameter high contaminated regions in the study area. Multivariate statistical analysis, such as principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and Pearson correlation matrix, was used to understand the relationship between water quality parameters. The Results show that 40% of samples are highly affected due to the high concentration of nitrate. The total non-carcinogenic health risks for male, women, and children are 40%, 50%, and 53.33%, respectively. It reveals that, children and women are at high risk than male in the study region. The major sources of contamination are discharges from the household, uncovered septic tanks, leachate from the waste dump, and excess utilization of fertilizers in the agriculture field.