Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Malwa Region of Punjab

Abstract

Quality of drinking water is the major issue which creates most of the health problems in the living organisms. The limited drinking water sources create a huge problem in different areas of world where fresh drinking water is very expensive and less available. This study highlights the groundwater quality status of six districts of the Malwa region of Punjab i.e. Patiala, SAS Nagar (Mohali), Sangrur, Mansa, Mukatsar and Bathinda. One hundred and thirty (130) samples were taken from the selected districts of Malwa region of the Punjab from different land-use i.e. Industrial sector, Agriculture Sector and Domestic sector. The sampling of the groundwater was done one time in each months of February to June 2019. The physical and chemical analysis of samples of study area executed as per APHA guidelines. The major parameters of the pysico-chemical properties were calculated i.e. pH, EC, TDS, Total Hardness, major anions and cations. Results indicate that the salt concentration determined through Electrical Conductivity testing is the maximum in Mukatsar, Bathinda and Mansa districts. Also the major dominance of the salts concentration is found in order of SO42- > Mg2+ > NO3 - > Ca2+. The correlation analysis of the results calculated from laboratory testing shows that the strong correlation of Electrical Conductivity (EC) existed with TDS, Alkalinity, TH, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO42-, and NO3 - at significant levels of p<0.01. The nitrate shows a negative trend with the depth of the groundwater table. Groundwater Quality Index (GQI) of the study area varies from medium to marginal level in the entire study area. The results tabulated from the calculations of Magnesium Absorption Ratio (MAR) shows that the groundwater in the study area is unsuitable for agriculture purpose.