Study of Spatial Variation of Groundwater Quality Parameters and its Contamination in Ropar District of Punjab

Abstract

Groundwater forms an indispensable portion of hydrological cycle. The availability of groundwater relies upon the recharge conditions and precipitation. Excessive use of groundwater, change in cropping pattern, production of good quality rice and discharge from industries has led to its exploitation which is one of the important environmental hazards and needs immediate attention. The regular check on the quality and level of groundwater should be done in order to ensure continuous supply. The present study was carried out in Ropar district of Punjab and it revealed that parameters of groundwater quality like nitrate exceeded the permissible limit at Ahmedpur, Bhallan and Dumewal region. The water quality index (WQI) was very poor at Ahmedpur and its surrounding areas. GIS technique was adopted to prepare the maps showing the spatial variation of groundwater quality parameters. Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method of interpolation in Spatial Analysist tool in ArcMap software was used. For soil texture analysis Lithological 3D model was prepared using Rockworks15 software. In order to group the areas having similar extent of pollution Cluster analysis (CA) technique was implemented. From this study it has been concluded that fluorine content is less than the desired value at every sampling location and also immediate chlorination of water supply sources is required in order to avoid bacterial infection as chlorine level is also less than the desirable level.