Groundwater Quality Analysis for Wardha, Maharashtra, India

Arid and semi-arid regions significantly depend upon groundwater to meet their water demand, especially when groundwater is the only and limited resource for drinking and other human needs. The primary concerns are the excessive consumption of groundwater for agricultural and industrial activities, low recharge rate and percolation of impurities in groundwater, affecting groundwater quality and quantity. This study was performed to identify the variation in the water quality of groundwater of arid or semi-arid regions using geographical information system (GIS) and water-quality index (WQI). The database generated by analyzing samples of 3 decades (1990 to 2019) spatially varied over 68 sampling locations and the dataset was classified based on designated use. The dispersal of chemical constituents in groundwater over the study area was determined using GIS and water quality was classified based on WQI. The maximum concentrations of magnesium, nitrates and sulphates were found to be 307.6 mg/L, 600.16 mg/L and 890.0 mg/L, respectively, but the overall water quality was found varying between marginal and good due to tremendous variations. The southeastern and southwestern parts of the study area were found to be majorly affected with high concentrations of electrical conductivity, total hardness, chlorides and sulphates. Integrating GIS and WQI gives new knowledge on the spatial variation in groundwater characteristics for designated use. The integrated model derives valuable information for land-use planners and decision-makers on groundwater-resource management. KEYWORDS: Groundwater, Groundwater-quality index, GIS, Spatial distribution