Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Sciences, Vol.7(1), 33-38, January 2017 ISSN 2229-760X (Print) (An International Research Journal), www.chemistry-journal.org ISSN 2319-7625 (Online)

Assessment of Borewell Water Quality: Puttur Mandal, ,

K. Aruna and B. Ramudu Department of Chemistry, Government Degree & PG College, Puttur, 517 583, INDIA. email : [email protected]

(Received on: January 23, Accepted: January 25, 2016)

ABSTRACT

Ground water quality and its impact on human health in and around Putur and nearby villages, Chittor District, Andhra Pradesh, India was assessed. Water samples were collected from 13 different villages in and around Puttur Mandal, , Andhra Pradesh are collected and analyzed for physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, calcium, chlorides, and dissolved oxygen. The found values of physicochemical parameters were compared with the World Health Organization water quality standards.

Keywords: Ground water, physicochemical parameters, purification, permissible limit, Puttur Mandal, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

INTRODUCTION

Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. 2 It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance can be assessed. The most common standards used to assess water quality relate to health of ecosystems, safety of human contact, and drinking water. Fresh water has become a scarce commodity due to over exploitation and pollution of water. Increasing population and its necessities have lead to the deterioration of surface and sub surface water. Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in both urban and rural areas. The importance of groundwater for the existence of human society cannot be over emphasized. Besides, it is an important source of water for the agricultural and industrial sector. Till recently it had been considered a dependable source of uncontaminated water. Groundwater crisis is not the result of natural factors. It has been caused by human actions.

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Much of ill health which affects humanity, especially in the developing countries can be traced to lack of safe and whole some water supply. The quality of ground water is the resultant of all the processes and reactions that act on the water from the moment it condensed in the atmosphere to the time it is discharged by a well or spring and varies from place to place and with the depth of the water table 1. Ground water is particularly important as it accounts for about 88% safe drinking water in rural areas, where population is widely dispersed and the infrastructure needed for treatment and transportation of surface water does not exist 2. Standard desirable limit of water quality parameters in drinking water prescribed by different agencies is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Parameters ISI(1983) WHO (1984) ICMR BIS (All in mg/L except pH) HDL MPL HDL MPL HDL MPL HDL MPL pH 6.5 - 8.5 - 7.0 - 8.5 6.5 - 9.5 7.0 - 8.56.5 - 9.2 7.0-8.3 8.5-9.0 TDS 500 2000 - - 500 1500 500 2000 Ca - 75 - 75 - - - 75 Cl - 250 - 250 250 250 TH 300 600 200 600 300 600 200 600 Alkalinity 200 600 - 120 - - 200 600 COD 150 255 255 150 255 HDL - Highest Desirable Level MPL – Maximum PermissibleLevel BIS – Bureau of Indian Standards ICMR - Indian Council of Medical Research WHO - World Health Organisation ISI-Indian Standard Institute TDS-Total Dissolved Solids TH-Total Hardness COD-Chemical Oxygen Demand

EXPERIMENTAL

Study Area

Puttur is located at 13.45°N and 79.55°E. It has an average elevation of 144 meters (472 feet). Puttur is situated on the way from to . It is situated at distance of 35 km from Tirupati and 11 km from Nagari and 18 km from Andhra Pradesh's border with Tamil Nadu. Puttur is famous for the bone setting treatment. The city is developing rapidly owing to its importance as Commercial, Educational centre in the District. Puttur is the one of fastest developing town in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh.

Significance of Research in this Area

Puttur town has a rapid development in urbanization. There is a number of and all type of educational institutions is situated in and around the town. About 25 number of villages and mandals namely , Karvetinagaram, Nagari and are entirely depending upon this town. Every day around 1lack of students and people come and travel through the town. The city has high vehicular traffic as it situated concentric to Tirupati, Kancheepuram, , Chittor and Chennai and it is via for Hyderabad to Chennai. In

34 K. Aruna, et al., J. Chem. & Cheml. Sci. Vol.7(1), 33-38 (2017) and around this city there are number of dying industries, Mango pulp and small scale industries are located. Therefore, it is very much necessary to do assessment of environment with respect to water as it a daily consumption and essential for human. Now a day, awareness has been increased about environmental issues and trace elements play an awfully vital role, either helpful or harmful to human health. Several metabolic disorders in man among the changes in the level of trace elements in human body substance like blood tissues etc., (McCall et al. , 1971). Mainly, lower level of trace element estimation is very much necessary in the field of environmental studies, nutrition and toxicology. In this regards, the complete study and assessment of water quality in this town is required. It will be helpful to the public as well as administration about the status of the environment of the town. This type of environmental survivalance is most important to know the rural areas water quality, public health, environmental conditions and issues of the country.

Fig. 1 Geological representation of Puttur town Objectives

 Survey and selection of appropriate 10 no. of sampling locations in Puttur.  Collection of water samples seasonally before and after Monsoon in a year (twice in a year). The quality of water has been estimated by its,  Physical, chemical and biological parameters [Temperature, pH, Salinity, Electrical conductivity (EC), Total dissolved solids (TDS), Dissolved oxygen (DO), Hardness, Alkalinity, Chlorides, Sulfates, Phosphates, Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Biological oxygen demand (BOD)]. The physicochemical parameters of ground water of 13 stations, around Puttur Town: Taduku, Thimmarajukandriga, K. M. Agraharam, Eswarapuram, Palluru, Nasanur, Gattu, Chavaturu, Kondala Charuvu, Moolakona, Pillarupattu, Gopalakrishnapuram, and Gateputtur. The ground water was collected from the bore wells located in these stations during the months of January 2014 to March 2016. The depth of the bore wells ranged from 90-130

35 K. Aruna, et al., J. Chem. & Cheml. Sci. Vol.7(1), 33-38 (2017) feet in all these stations. The sampling locations, source and corresponding habitats are shown in Table 2.

Preparation of water samples

The samples were collected in clean polythene bottles without any air bubbles. The bottles were rinsed before sampling and tightly sealed after collection and labeled in the field. The temperatures of the samples were measured in the field itself at the time of sample collection. The samples were kept in refrigerator maintained at 4 oC.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of the physicochemical analysis of the groundwater samples S1 to S13, collected from 13 places in Puttur mandal are presented in Table 2.

Table 2 :Water Analysis Samples Report

PH: pH is considered as an important ecological factor and provides an important piece factor and piece of information in many types of geochemical equilibrium or solubility calculation. pH is an important parameter in water body since most of the aquatic organisms are adapted to an average pH and do not withstand abrupt changes. The pH values fluctuated between 5.9 to 7.1 (Table 2). The limit of pH value for drinking water is specified 4 as 6.5 to 8.5. The pH shows slightly alkaline trend. Generally pH of water is influenced by geology of catchments area and buffering capacity of water.

Temperature: The temperature was found to be in the range between 31.9 oC during study. The higher value of water temperature observed in the present study could be attributed to the early summer months prevailed during the period of investigation.

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Total alkalinity: The standard desirable limit 5 of alkalinity in potable water is 120 mg/L. The maximum permissible level is 600 mg/L. The mean value of alkalinity in the ground water of area of present study was 150.85 mg/L (Table 3) which exceeded the desirable limit in all stations .The value of alkalinity in water provides an idea of natural salts present in water. The cause of alkalinity is the minerals which dissolve in water from soil. The various ionic species that contribute to alkalinity include bicarbonate, hydroxide, phosphate, borate and organic acids. These factors are characteristics of the source of water and natural processes taking place at any given time 6

Chlorides: Chlorides are important in detecting the contamination of ground water by waste water. The permissible limit 5 of chloride in drinking water is 250 mg/L.

Total hardness (TH)

ISI has specified the total hardness to be within 300 mg/L of CaCO 3. Total hardness has fluctuating trends in its value were observed in all the stations.

Chemical Oxygen demand (COD)

The observed COD values in all the stations are varying from 8 to 16 mg/L. The permissible limit of COD for drinking water is 255 mg/L. Hence the observed COD values in all the 5 stations are well within the desirable limit.

Table 3. Physicochemical parameters of groudnwater, Puttur Area (mg/L) with standard values (WHO) as reference

Parameters S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 Mean WHO pH 6.72 6.65 6.57 6.82 6.96 6.69 6.79 6.65 6.71 5.96 7.11 6.46 6.6 6.67 7.0 - 8.5 T, oC 31.9 o - TDS, 200ppt 0.6 0.9 2.9 1.3 1.7 0.5 0.4 1.3 1.75 0.04 2.4 0.05 0.96 1.60 - TDS, 20ppt 0.75 1.02 2.92 1.45 1.78 0.7 0.6 1.48 1.7120.055 2.57 0.69 0.9 1.28 - Calcium 49.12 39.48 40.12 7.86 71.76 41.67 52.4 48.2 51.1 40.8 39.6 42.7 54.2 44.54 75 Chloride 190.90 148.04128.80 60.70 276.84 248.2 255 239.6242.5256.1 239.5 278 259.2 217.2 250 TH 235.56 160.24158.64 94.55 171.46 192.5 222.2198.6212.3232.1 187.2 198.6 233.5 192.1 200 Alkalinity 177.75 163.34124.91153.73134.52 112.5 122.8116.6114.9128.6 119.3 118.2 185.0 136.3 120 COD 8 8 16 8 16 8.5 9.2 9.3 8.3 7.8 8.4 7.9 8.0 9.5 - DO 6.4 9.3 9.8 8.7 8.6 7.8 8 5.3 6.9 8.8 7.2 7.1 8.6 7.88 8.0

The analysis of the water quality parameters of groundwater from Puttur Mandal, Andhra Pradesh, India, shows that the pH, chloride ion, total hardness, calcium and COD values are well within the permissible limits. The TDS of S 5 was well above the desirable limit and the average of alkalinity has exceeded the desirable limits which are due to improper drainage system of the dyeing units. In conclusion from the results of the present study it may be said that the groundwater of Puttur Mandal, Anddhra Pradesh is though fit for domestic and drinking purpose need treatments to minimize the contamination especially the alkalinity. There is an increasing awareness among the people to maintain the groundwater at their

37 K. Aruna, et al., J. Chem. & Cheml. Sci. Vol.7(1), 33-38 (2017) highest quality and purity levels and the present study may prove to be useful in achieving the same.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author (K.A) is highly thankful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for financing the project and the Principal and colleagues of Government Degree and PG College Puttur for their encouragement.

REFERENCES

1. Diersing, Nancy. "Water Quality: Frequently Asked Questions." Florida Brooks National Marine Sanctuary, Key West, FL (2009). 2. Johnson, D.L., S.H. Ambrose, T.J. Bassett, M.L. Bowen, D.E. Crummey, J.S. Isaacson, D.N. Johnson, P. Lamb, M. Saul, and A.E. Winter-Nelson. "Meanings of environmental terms." Journal of Environmental Quality . 26: 581-589 (1997). doi:10.2134/jeq1997.00472425002600030002x 3. Jain CK, Bhatia KKS and Vijay T, 1995. Ground water quality monitoring and evaluation in and around Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, Technical Report, CS (AR) 172, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, (1994-1995). 4. Kumar A, Water Pollution. Nisha Enterprises New Delhi., pp 1-331 (2004). 5. ISI, Indian Standard specification for drinking water, IS10500, ISI, New Delhi, (1983). 6. W.H.O, Guidelines for drinking water quality, Vol.1, Recommendations WHO, Geneva, (1984). 7. Sharma M R, J. Pollut Res ., 23(1), 131-134 (2004).

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