Evaluation of Groundwater Quality and its Suitability Assessment for Drinking and Agriculture purposes in Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Water is an excellent solvent and can contain lots of dissolved chemicals. Since groundwater moves through rocks and subsurface soil, it has a lot of opportunity to dissolve substances as it moves. For that reason, groundwater will often have more dissolved substances than surface water will. To assess the groundwater quality of the Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra State, the present study was conducted in the month of May 2019. Total 345 groundwater samples were collected from all the eleven districts of the Vidarbha region and analysed for 11 water quality indicative parameters viz. pH, Electrical Conductance, Total Dissolved Solids, Total hardness, Sodium, Potassium, Total Alkalinity, Chloride, Sulphate, Nitrate and Fluoride. Selected chemical indices were also calculated viz. Calcium Hardness, Sodium Absorption Ratio, Residual Sodium Carbonate, Soluble Sodium Percentage, Permeability Index and Kelly’s Ratio. More than 95 percent of the ground water samples were found to be fit for drinking, irrigation and other purposes.