Hydrochemical characteristics and GIS-based assessment of groundwater quality in the coastal aquifers of Tuticorin corporation, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract

Tuticorin corporation stretches geographically from 8°43 0-8°51 0 N latitude and 78°5 0-78°10 0 E longitude, positioned in the East-West International sea routes on the SouthEast coast of India. The rapid urban developments in the past two decades of Tuticorin have caused depletion of groundwater quantity, and deterioration of quality through excessive consumption and influx of pollutants from natural and anthropogenic activities. The water samples collected in the field were analyzed for electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, major cations like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and anions SUCH AS bicarbonate, carbonate, chloride, nitrate and sulfate, in the laboratory using the standard methods given by the American Public Health Association. In order to assess the groundwater quality, 36 groundwater samples had been collected in year 2011. The geographic information system-based spatial distribution map of different major elements has been prepared using ArcGIS 9.2. The Piper plot shows that most of the groundwater samples fall in the field of Ca 2?-Mg 2?-Cl-SO 4 2and Na ?-K ?-Cl-HCO 3 by projecting the position on the plots in the triangular field. The cation concentration indicate that 83, 39 and 22 % of the K ? , Na ? , Ca 2? concentrations exceed the WHO limit. As per Wilcox's diagram and US Salinity laboratory classification, most of the groundwater samples are not suitable for irrigation due to the presence of high salinity and medium sodium hazard. Irrigation waters classified based on sodium absorption ratio, have revealed that 52 % groundwater are in general safe for irrigation, which needs treatment before use. permeability index also indicates that the groundwater samples are suitable for irrigation purpose.

Hydro-geochemistry and application of water quality index (WQI) for groundwater quality assessment, Anna Nagar, part of Chennai City, Tamil Nadu, India

“…The conventional techniques such as trilinear plots, statistical techniques are widely accepted methods to determine the quality of water. The problems of ground water quality are more acute in areas that are coastal, densely populated and thickly industrialized and have shallow groundwater tube wells (Ballukraya and Ravi 1999;Reddy and Subba Rao 2001;Malini et al 2003;Krishna kumar et al 2011;Padmalal et al 2012;Bagyaraj et al 2013;Selvam et al 2013). The present study was carried out for qualitative analysis based on physico-chemical parameters of groundwater.…”

Surface Water Quality Monitoring for River Nile, Egypt Using GIS-Techniques

“…The spatial distribution maps of WQI were prepared using one special tool of GIS environment which called Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) technique. IDW referred to as "deterministic interpolation methods because they assign values to locations based on the surrounding measured values and on specified mathematical formulas that determine the smoothness of the resulting surface" [31] [32]. This method uses a defined or selected set of sample points for estimating the output grid cell.…”

Recent Hydrogeological Research in India

“…Rina et al (2011 and2013) studied hydrogeochemistry of Sabarmati basin including its coastal aquifers. Selvam et al (2013) assessed the groundwater quality around Tuticorin Corporation limits, Tamilnadu vis-a-vis utility of water for different purposes. Sivasubramanian et al (2013) identified the chemical processes that control hydrochemistry in Kadaladi block of Ramanathapuram District, Tamilnadu.…”