Reflecting on changes in the drinking and irrigation water quality of rivers Beas, Satluj and confluence waters

Prevention and control of water pollution for maintaining and restoring the wholesomeness of rivers are unavoidable. The current water quality approach of designated best use has some limitations such as it is non-integrative and inflexible with regard to the consideration of variables and does not provide a separate rating scale for a given designated use. We thus used water quality index approach proposed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME WQI) to evaluate and develop a separate rating system for drinking and irrigation purposes of rivers Beas, Satluj and their confluence water of the Indian Punjab using information collected over 4 years (2016 to 2019). River Beas exhibited better water quality compared to river Satluj for irrigation as well as for drinking. The overall drinking water quality index (DWQI) for Beas was marginal (45.5), whereas it was poor for Satluj (37.7) and confluence waters (40.1). The spatial variation in DWQI was greater for Satluj compared to Beas and confluence waters reflecting the effect of dumping of untreated industrial and domestic waste waters. Variables such as Total coliform (T. coli), dissolved oxygen (DO), turbidity and biological oxygen demand (BOD) contributed to the deterioration of DWQI. The irrigation water quality index (IWQI) was good for Beas (86), marginal for Satluj (60.1) and fair for confluence waters (71.2). Faecal coliform (F. coli), Kelly ratio (KR) and %Na contributed to the deterioration of IWQI. Calcium-magnesium-bicarbonate (Ca-Mg-HCO3) was the dominant water type in Beas and confluence waters, whereas for Satluj, in addition to Ca-Mg-HCO3, sodium-potassium-chloride-sulphate and mixed water types were also prevalent. The river waters witnessed salinity hazard but did not pose sodicity hazard except at a few locations of Satluj. The study indicates the need to take location specific measures for improving river water quality for drinking as well as irrigation purposes. The current status of water quality calls for an urgent need to formulate stringent policy regulations to maintain the surface water quality.

Hydrochemical analysis and groundwater suitability for drinking and irrigation in an arid agricultural area of the Northwest China

Groundwater is the foremost water source in the arid and semiarid regions of Northwest China. Assessing groundwater's drinking and irrigation quality is essential for protecting these valuable groundwater resources. In this study, a total of 24 confined groundwater samples and 54 phreatic groundwater samples were collected in the southern and central Ningxia area for hydrochemical analysis and quality assessment. The hydrochemical results revealed that hydrochemical types of phreatic and confined groundwater consistently belonged to Na-SO4-Cl and Na-Mg-SO4-Cl types. The driving forces of groundwater chemistry were determined by gypsum dissolution, silicate dissolution, and positive cation exchange for phreatic and confined aquifers. The entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI) and irrigation water quality index (IWQI) showed that the drinking water quality and irrigation quality were better in phreatic groundwater than in confined groundwater due to the Neogene-Paleogene groundwater system recharge and strong evaporation. Measures such as controlling groundwater extraction and optimizing well placement need to be implemented. The achievements would be helpful for groundwater management and protection in agricultural areas under semi-arid and arid climates.

Water quality and health risk assessment of heavy metals in groundwater of Ranbir Singh Pura tehsil of Jammu and Kashmir, India

Groundwater is one of the important sources available for drinking, agricultural, domestic, and various other purposes in the study area. Study area is having agricultural importance and is famous for Basmati rice production in the world. In order to assess water suitability for irrigation and drinking purposes, 25 sampling sites were selected and water samples were collected from handpumps, borewells and motors from May 2022 to June 2022. Fifteen physico-chemical parameters and water quality index (WQI) was calculated to assess the drinking water suitability. The results obtained then compared with the BIS (2012) and WHO drinking water guidelines. For irrigation water suitability, irrigation water quality index (IWQI) and other indices were calculated. Heavy metal health risk assessment was also evaluated using target hazard quotient (THQ), carcinogenic risks (CR), non-carcinogenic risks, heavy metal pollution index (HPI), etc. Study found 60% of water samples under poor category of WQI. All water samples were found suitable for irrigation purposes according to different indices except for permeability index for which only 32% samples were found suitable. IWQI classifies 52%, 32%, and 12% of water samples under moderate, low, and no restriction category respectively. Groundwater of the study area found to be contaminated with copper (Cu), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr) while low contamination of zinc (Zn) and arsenic (As) was found according to heavy metal evaluation index (HEI). High contamination of chromium (HPI= 9740.8) and lead (HPI=188) was recorded as per HPI. HQ value for men, women, and children in case of zinc were found safe while HQ values for copper and lead in all population groups were found at risk. Overall, the study area was found highly contaminated with the lead, copper, and chromium concentrations. Thus, study recommends regular monitoring of the groundwater of study area as well as treatment before using this water for drinking purposes.

Geographic information system-based groundwater quality assessment for drinking and irrigation purposes in transboundary aquifers of River Ravi, India

Access to safe and clean drinking water is a basic human right, and assessment of groundwater suitability for drinking purpose imparts significant role in providing clean and suitable water for human consumption. The main objective of this study was to assess the groundwater quality status of Gurdaspur district falling along international boundary of Indo-Pak, thus serving as transboundary aquifers, for drinking and irrigation purpose based on physicochemical analysis of 111 samples using standard numerical indices and GIS techniques. Shannon's entropy theory was employed to assess the groundwater quality for human consumption as it removes the subjectivity problem and integral ambiguities of groundwater systems. The results of entropy water quality index revealed that the drinking groundwater quality was found to be in excellent, good and medium water class except 5 samples which were in poor to extremely poor water class. Piper trilinear plot revealed that the main water types were Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺-HCO₃^-. Mineral saturation index indicated that carbonate minerals were oversaturated and the evaporative minerals were undersaturated. The outcomes of principal component analysis indicated that the ion exchange, weathering and agricultural practices were the dominant controlling factors in the study area. Furthermore, the results of the irrigation water quality index illustrated that 3 and 65 samples were placed in 'severe restriction' and 'high restriction' class respectively indicating irrigation water as an issue for sustainable agricultural production in agrarian dominant district. The study recommends the adaptation of remedial actions particularly in the regions where drinking and irrigational groundwater quality issues are reported to ensure clean and suitable drinking water for the inhabitants.

Spatial distribution of drinking and irrigation water quality indices of Ghizer River Basin, northern Pakistan

Determining the water contamination of a river that threatens the dependent ecological community is a pillar for sustainable management. For this purpose, the present study aimed to examine the water quality of the Ghizer River Basin (GRB), Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan, for drinking and irrigation. Water samples (n = 55) were collected from the GRB and analyzed for physicochemical parameters. Water basic parameters and anions were measured using the multi-parameter analyzer (CONSORT 6030, Belgium) and cations by the atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS, AAnalyst 700, PerkinElmer, USA). Physiochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), iodide (I), chloride (Cl), fluoride (F), nitrate (NO₃), sulfate (SO₄), bicarbonate (HCO₃), turbidity, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), and sodium (Na) were noted to be within the drinking water permissible limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, pH and turbidity surpassed their respective limits in 2% and 48% of water samples, respectively. Samples were assessed for water quality index (WQI) and irrigation water quality (IWQ) indices. The WQI values for most samples in the GRB were noted in the excellent (38.2%), good (58.2%), and poor (3.6%) categories. Similarly, most IWQ indices revealed that water is suitable and recommended for irrigation. Gibbs plots showed that most water samples in the GRB were noted in the precipitation dominance zone. The piper plot revealed the calcium-chloride (Ca-Cl) dominant hydrochemical facies.

Evaluation of groundwater quality for irrigation water supply using multi-criteria decision-making techniques and GIS in an agroeconomic tract of Lower Ganga basin, India

Groundwater irrigation has evolved the monocropping cultivation pattern to multi-cropping, especially in many arid/semi-arid tracts globally. Irrigation practices with the groundwater of poor quality can limit the selection of the crop, reduce crop yields and degrade the soil quality. The present study has been undertaken to identify the hydrogeochemical phenomena of groundwater systems in the south-western Birbhum district, India and to analyze groundwater suitability for irrigation during the pre-and post-monsoon cycles by adopting the Irrigation Water Quality Index (IWQI) using Multivariate Factor Analysis along with some traditional methods viz. sodium adsorption ratio, sodium percentage, magnesium hazards, residual sodium bicarbonate (RSBC) and carbonate (RSC), Wilcox's and USSL diagrams, permeability index and Kelly's index. The hydrogeochemical analysis revealed that chemical weathering and evaporation are predominant in the aquifer systems. Groundwater quality reflected soil salinity, sodicity and magnesium hazards risks and water toxicity to the sensitive plants at 0-46.4% of the post-monsoon samples and 0-38.4% of the pre-monsoon samples based on the individual traditional methods whereas about 97.73-98.88% of the total area was classified as moderate to severely unsuitable for irrigation during both seasons when integrated multiple parameters using the IWQI method. Prolonged use of such groundwater for irrigation is susceptible to causing moderate to severe infiltration problems at a greater extent of the study area. The study recommends adaptation of salinity, sodicity and RSC/RSBC reduction procedures (e.g., the use of acid and gypsum amendments in the irrigation lands and through water blending) and advanced irrigation practices (viz. drips, sprinklers and micro irrigations) to prevent soil degradation and increase crops productivity. Adopting Managed Aquifer Recharge procedures as well as rainwater harvesting in the areas bearing unsuitable water quality can dilute the ionic concentrations of the groundwater facies which in turn will improve the groundwater quality for irrigation.