Major ion chemistry of the ground water at the Khoda Village, Ghaziabad, India

Abstract

The ground water quality in and around the Khoda village, Ghaziabad, India, has been evaluated for sustainability and its suitability for drinking, domestic and irrigation purposes. A total of 184 ground water samples were collected from India Mark II hand-pumps during pre-monsoon (March 2011) and post-monsoon (October 2010) periods, respectively. All the samples were analyzed for 29 physicochemical water quality parameters. According to the Soltan’s classification, the majority of the samples were normal sulfate, normal bicarbonate and normal chloride types, respectively, during pre- and post-monsoon seasons. Base-exchange, meteoric genesis, Langelier saturation and Ryznar stability indices were also estimated. The total ionic dominance (meq/L) pattern follows the order Na⁺ > HCO₃⁻ > Cl⁻ > Mg²⁺ > SO₄²⁻ > Ca²⁺. Piper trilinear and Chadha’s rectangular diagrams indicated that alkali metals (Na⁺ + K⁺) exceed alkaline earth metals (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺) and anions of strong acids (SO₄²⁻ + Cl⁻) dominate over anions of weak acids (HCO₃⁻ + CO₃⁻), suggesting that this water is of the Na⁺ − Cl⁻ and Na₂SO₄ types. Ground water suitability for irrigation was assessed using electrical conductivity and percent sodium, the US Salinity Laboratory’s diagram, residual sodium carbonate (RSC), salinity index, chlorinity index, sodicity index, Kelly’s Index and magnesium hazard.