Gopal Krishan

Assessment of Water Quality Index (WQI) of Groundwater in RajkotDistrict, Gujarat, India

Water quality index (WQI) of groundwater based on the data of 27 samples collected from Rajkot district, Gujarat was assessed using seven parameters viz. pH, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Hardness, Fluoride, Chloride, Sulphate and Nitrate. The WQI value 98 is maximum and the value 27 is minimum in the study area. The computed WQI shows that 51.8% of water sample fall in the ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ water category. On the other hand, 48.2% of water samples fall in the ‘fair’ to ‘poor’ category indicating that the water is not suitable for direct consumption and require treatment. After treatment, the water can be used for drinking purpose.

Observing changes in groundwater resource using hydro-chemical and isotopic parameters: a case study from Bist Doab, Punjab

Abstract The continuous and large-scale abstraction of groundwater has created a groundwater depletion problem in several parts of the Punjab state including Bist Doab, the interfluve region of Beas and Satluj rivers. In the present study, a few important parameters, viz. water level, stable isotope, EC, temperature, groundwater age, that can be used to fingerprint the over-exploitation of groundwater have been examined. It has been observed that with the increase in over-exploitation, the yield of shallow aquifer is progressively getting reduced and as a result forcing the farmers to sink their wells to deeper depths. With abstraction of deeper aquifer, the storage of old groundwater at the deeper aquifer is declining and getting replaced by induced accelerated inflow of young water from the recharge zone and the overlying shallow aquifer. The signatures of the modern water have been observed in the data analyzed for isotopic, hydro-chemical facies, electrical conductivity and temperature of water from deeper aquifer. The study has identified the usefulness of these parameters for identifying groundwater over-exploitation in the region. Depleting water resource may stagnate the economic progress of the region. The paper provides suitable water resource management strategies to be adopted to improve the sustainability of water resources and economic growth in the region.

Spatiotemporal Variability Analysis of Groundwater Level for Water Resources Development and Management in Northern Punjab, India

The present study was conducted for investigating spatiotemporal variations in the groundwater levels recorded on monthly basis during 2006-2013 in northern parts of Punjab, India, comprising of 3 districts viz., Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran. The entire data of 8 years was divided into three seasons: pre-monsoon (February-May), monsoon (June-September) and post monsoon (October-January). It was observed in Gurdaspur district that the groundwater level depths increased in monsoon seasons with an overall variation range of 0.22% to 9.67%. In Amritsar district, in monsoon season, the highest increase of 6.22% in groundwater level depth was found in the Ajanala block and least increase of 0.36% in Tarshika, while in Tarn Taran district, the highest increase of 3.87% in groundwater level depth was found in the Noushera Pannua block and least increase of 0.95% was found in Tarn Taran block. The groundwater level decreased in the range of 0.15 m to 1.80 m with an annual decrease in groundwater level in the range of 0.02 m to 0.23 m. The increase in groundwater level depth in monsoon seasons was found due to extreme usage in irrigation for rice crop and the recharging of aquifers is not speedy. However, it has also been observed that the groundwater level rises again in the post monsoon season due to the groundwater resilience of the aquifers. Besides this, the extensive recharge in the area is observed by Ravi and Beas rivers because of perennial nature. A regular monitoring of groundwater in different seasons of the year and its spatiotemporal analysis is required for adopting the appropriate management practices including conjunctive use of surface and groundwater for maintaining its sustainability.

Identification and Planning of Water Quality Monitoring Network in Context of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

Hydrological system is a quite complex and dynamic in nature because of the heterogeneity of the earth crust and surrounding atmosphere. Water exists on the earth in all three forms of liquid, solid and gas. The scarcity of its liquid freshwater has resulted because of increasing demand in response to growing population, contamination and pollution of freshwater bodies due to urbanization and industrialization. Precise measurement of water quality, in present time, has become the necessity because of increasing scarcity of this precious resource. In a global perspective, organizations dealing with water supply and monitoring are ever concerned about precise assessment of water quality. Researchers are focusing on the assessment of surface and ground water quality on spatial scale rather than point scale, which needs strengthening of monitoring networks time-to-time. The design of a hydrometric network starts ideally with a minimum number of stations, and increases gradually until an optimum network is attained when the amount and quality of data collected and information processed is economically justifiable and it meets the user’s needs to make specific decisions. In hydrology, monitoring of data is mostly site-specific and proper representation of this data on spatial scale requires proper network planning. Since the drivers of water quality vary in space and time, the quality of water also varies in space and time. It is therefore imperative to monitor the quality of water under heterogeneous space-dependent conditions for which a specialized water quality monitoring network is essential. The present paper is in the context of identifying and planning of water quality monitoring network for data acquisition for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

Index-based assessment of suitability of water quality for irrigation purpose under Indian conditions

Agriculture is a major sector in India which contributes around 14% of country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Being an agriculture-based country, good quality of water for irrigation has been a prime requisite. Highly growing population and accelerated industrial development are causing anthropogenic pollution to both surface and groundwater on one side and geogenic contamination like arsenic, fluoride, high dissolved solids, sodicity, and iron in groundwater on other side. As a result, ensuring safe water quality for the irrigation has become a major challenge to both the central and state governments. The present irrigation water quality standards being followed in India have been set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in the year 2000. These standards are solely based on four parameters, namely electrical conductivity, sodium percentage, sodium absorption ratio, and residual sodium carbonate, which are quite subjective and many times are not capable to exactly decide the quality of irrigation water particularly when there are large variations in the source water quality. Therefore, in the present paper, an indices-based approach is presented for categorization of irrigation water quality. These indices are mathematical equations that transform water quality data into a numeric value, which describes the quality of irrigation water. The proposed irrigation water quality index (IWQI), which is based on 12 parameters, classifies the water into five categories, viz. excellent, good, medium, bad, and very bad in the same manner as given by the CPCB and CGWB. In order to give proper rating to various parameters of the index, weights are computed using Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-based multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach. This approach minimizes the subjectivity in assessment of weights and improves understanding of water quality issues by generating an overall index to describe the status of water quality. The proposed index will be beneficial for the water management authorities in ensuring safe water to the stakeholders.

Assessment of Groundwater Quality of Agra District for the Irrigation Purpose

Groundwater quality of Agra district has been assessed considering twelve water quality parameters viz. pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solid (TDS), chloride (Cl-), bicarbonate (HCO3 -), sulfate (SO42 -), silicon (Si), iron (Fe), aluminium (Al), calcium (Ca++ ), magnesium (Mg++) and sodium (Na+). Data on groundwater quality of fifteen blocks of the Agra district were collected for nine years (2006-2014) from the Ground Water Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh. The data are investigated using Wilcox and Piper diagrams with the help of Aquachem 2011.1 software. The assessment on suitability of groundwater quality for the irrigation purpose is done using sodium percentage (Na%), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) for all the blocks. The results show that groundwater of various blocks of Agra district is of Naz Cl-, Ca2+ -Na+ HCO3 -, Ca2+-Mg2+ Cl-, Ca2+ HCO3 -, Ca2+ Cl-, Na+ CI-, Ca2+ Mg2+ ClSO42 and Ca2+Na+ HCO3 type. It is also found that the groundwater quality of the blocks Barauli Ahir, Fatehapur Sikari, Saiyan, Achhnera, Shamsabad, Khandouli, Pinahat, Jaitpur Kalan and Bah falls under very good to medium category and can be used for the irrigation purpose. However, the groundwater quality for the blocks Bichpuri, Akola, Fatehabad, Khairagarh, Etmadpur and Jagner falls under Medium to very bad category and hence cannot be used for the irrigation purpose. The outcome of the study would be helpful to the farmers, policy makers and water management authorities in planning and management of irrigation water.

Assessment of Salinity and Fluoride in Groundwater of Semi-Arid Region of Punjab, India

Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in Southwestern semi-arid region of Punjab, India which is now facing severe salinity and fluoride (F-) problems. A study was carried out in the Bathinda district of southwest semi-arid region of Punjab to assess the salinity and Fconcentrations. Groundwater samples from 21 locations were analyzed, and 59% were found to exceed the permissible electrical conductivity (EC) limit of 1500 μS/cm1. Fluoride concentrations exceeded the WHO (2008)1 permissible limit of 1.50 mg/L in 69% of the samples which may significantly affect human health by causing fluorosis. The increase in groundwater levels leading to high evaporation which caused an accumulation of salts and further resulted in increase in EC. The increased Fconcentration is mainly due to rock-water interactions which led to fluorite dissolution.

Water Quality Assessment in Terms of Water Quality Index (WQI) Using GIS in Ballia District, Uttar Pradesh, India

In the present study, water quality of groundwater has been assessed in terms of water quality index (WQI) in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. Data of 12 groundwater samples each of hand pump and bore well was taken for computing the Water Quality Index using eleven parameters viz. pH, Total Dissolved Solids, Turbidity, Total Hardness, Arsenic, Fluoride, Chloride, Nitrate, Iron, Sulphate and Dissolved Oxygen. The WQI results show that the overall water quality class is ‘fair’ and water needs treatment

Hydrological Disasters Management and Risk Assessment

In India, floods and droughts are recurrent hydrological phenomenon causing huge losses to lives, livelihood, properties and infrastructure due to non-uniformly distributed rainfall both in time and space leading to the dimensionally opposite problems of flood and drought in different parts of the country. Out of 3290 lakh hectares geographical area,40 million hectares is prone to floods which show high risk, vulnerability and is one of the most common hydrologic extremes frequently experienced by our country. On the other hand drought has a varying frequency from once in two years to once in fifteen years. It has been observed that there is flood in one part of country and severe drought in the other part. Various short term and long term measures should be adopted to prevent and mitigate the consequences of floods and drought rather than causing damages and losses due to interfering of the natural processes. In this paper, drought and flood problems in India are highlighted along with some of the important management issues requiring immediate attention. Further more, it presents the recently developed nonstructural techniques for flood forecasting, flood plain zoning, glacial lake outburst modeling and decision support system. Current World Environment Journal Website: www.cwejournal.org ISSN: 0973-4929, Vol. 12, No. (3) 2017, Pg. 520-529 CONTACT Gopal Krishan drgopal.krishan@gmail.com National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, 247667, Uttarakhand, India.