International Journal of Agriculture Science and Research (IJASR) ISSN (P): 2250–0057; ISSN (E): 2321–0087 Vol. 10, Issue 5, Oct 2020, 49-58 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

GROUNDWATER QUALITY: ESTIMATION OF SPATIAL VARIATION USING IDW SPATIAL ANALYST IN ,

THENMOZHI.M1, THANGAMANI. S2 & JAYABHARATHI. J3 1Scientist B, Centre for Water Resources Development and Management, Kozhikode 2Teaching Assistant, Department of soil and water conservation Engineering, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 3Assistant Professor, College of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Tamil Nadu Dr.J.Jayalalitha Fisheries University, Nagapattinam ABSTRACT

Groundwater plays an important role in the environment, which is used for different sectors like domestic, industrial and irrigation sector. Industrialization and urbanisation has become a main threat to the existence of mankind and the ecosystem. Improper waste management practices often lead to decline of groundwater level and also quality issue, which leads to health and environmental implications. Thus, this study attempted to map the groundwater quality in Cuddalore district. The samples were collected from 27 bore wells in different locations and analysed for the water quality parameters like Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Nitrates and Nitrites, Cl, SO4, CO3, HCO3, Na, Ca, pH, EC, hardness, Residual

Original Article Original Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Adsorption Ratio etc., for different period of time. The obtained data was compared with the BIS and CPCB standards for their limits. The average values for each parameter were taken and plotted in the Cuddalore district map using spatial interpolation method in ArcGIS. The extent to which the groundwater is affected by the parameter is found by a tool called IDW Spatial Analyst. The results found that the water quality parameters like TDS, magnesium, Cadmium, Chromium and chemical oxygen demand which were above the permissible limits prescribed by BIS and WHO standards. The quality of groundwater had found out varied from location to location by the complex geological systems. The water quality index data showed that most of the sampling areas were unfit for the drinking purposes. The industrialization was the main causes for the water crisis and pollution. From this result, the concerned authority should take necessary steps to protect the environment and to improve the groundwater quality.

KEYWORDS: Groundwater quality mapping, Irrigation water quality, Spatial interpolation technique, IDW (Inverse Distance Weighting) Spatial Analyst

Received: Oct 02, 2020; Accepted: Oct 22, 2020; Published: Dec 07, 2020; Paper Id.: IJASROCT20207

1. INTRODUCTION

Groundwater is mainly used for domestic, agriculture and industrial purposes in almost all parts of the world. Groundwater is the important source in for drinking and irrigation purposes. According to FAO, 70 % of groundwater used for agriculture sector and 10 % for domestic sector and 20 % used in Industry. In the last few decades, the quantity and quality of groundwater were markedly affected due to various anthropogenic activities. The quality of groundwater depends on individual hydrological, physical, chemical and biological factors. The ground water pollution in Cuddalore is mainly affected because of industrialisation. The effluent release from the industries has increased the contamination in groundwater due to its penetration through soil. The weighted arithmetic mean method used to find out the groundwater pollution based on the Water Quality Index (Ratnakanth Babu et al., 2011). Shankar et al. (2011) analysed the spatial distribution of groundwater quality in the Paravanar

www.tjprc.org [email protected] 50 Thenmozhi.M, Thangamani. S & Jayabharathi. J river sub basin, Cuddalore and the results found that most of the area is in critical zone. Hence, this present study aims to analyze the groundwater quality for the main purpose like drinking and irrigation sectors.

2. STUDY AREA

Cuddalore is a district of Tamil Nadu state, lies on the east coast of south India between 78°38' E longitude and 12°35' N latitude. The district covers the blocks like Cuddalore, Panruti, , Tittakudi, Kurinjipadi, Chidambaram and Kattumanarkoil. The study area consists of the rivers such as Vellar and Coleroon. The total geographical area of the district is about 3, 67,800ha. The district is more or less plain terrain with small elevated up lands and lateritic hillocks and prominent coastal zone (CGWB, 2009).The normal rainfall of district varies from 1050 to 1400 mm. The district receives more than the normal rainfall during monsoons seasons (August to December) (ENVIS, 2015). The study area mainly covered by Charnockite, Sandstone, Laterite and Alluvium formations (CGWB, 2009).

Figure 1: Study Area Map

3. METHODOLOGY

The groundwater samples were collected from 27 bore wells in different locations. The collected samples were analysed for the parameters like Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Nitrates and Nitrites, Cl, SO4, CO3, HCO3, Na, Ca, pH, EC, hardness by using standard methods (APHA 1998). The values for each parameter were taken and plotted in the Cuddalore district map using ArcGIS as a tool. The extent to which the groundwater is affected by the parameter is found by a tool called IDW Spatial Analyst. The parameters considered for analysing irrigation water quality are Electrical conductivity (EC), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC). Water Quality Index is calculated for analysing the suitability for drinking purposes. The various criteria for the evaluation of irrigation water with permissible limits for crop growth are furnished below: a) Salinity hazard or concentration of Total Soluble Salts

Impact Factor (JCC): 8.3083 NAAS Rating: 4.13 Groundwater Quality: Estimation of Spatial Variation using Idw Spatial Analyst in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu 51

Salinity hazard classified into four classes viz., C1, C2, C3 and C4. Class 1 and Class 2are suitable for irrigation purposes for agriculture sector. Class 3 and Class 4 are not suitable for irrigation purpose, because it comes under class of severely affected. The concentration of soluble salts in irrigation water can be classified in terms of electrical conductivity (EC) and expressed as dS m-1(formerly milli mhos cm-1) at 25ºC.

Table 1: Salinity Classification (Source: USSL staff, 1954) Salt Water EC(dS m- Salinity Level Concentration Remarks Class 1) (g L-1 ) C1 Low salinity < 0.25 < 0.16 Safe water – can be used for irrigation Medium 0.25 - Can be used with proper management for C 0.16 – 0.50 2 salinity 0.75 moderate leaching 0.75 - C High salinity 0.50 – 1.50 Cannot be used for irrigation 3 2.25 Very High 2.25 - C 1.50 – 3.00 Cannot be used for irrigation 4 salinity 5.00

(i) Sodicity Hazard:

Sodium hazard classified into four classes as S1, S2, S3 and S4 based on the SAR values. Details of the SAR value and remarks furnished in the below table. Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) is calculated using the formula by

Na+

SAR= ------(Raghunath, 1987)

√ Ca2+ + Mg2+) /2

Table 2: Sodicity level classification (Source: USSL staff, 1954) Water Sodicity Level SAR value Remarks Class S1 Low sodium hazard < 10 Little or no hazard Appreciable hazard, water can be used with S Medium salinity 10 - 18 2 appropriate management measures S3 High sodium hazard 18 - 26 Unsatisfactory for most of the crops Very High Sodium S > 26 Unsatisfactory for most of the crops 4 hazard

2- - 2+ 2+ (iii) Bicarbonate hazard (RSC): RSC = (CO3 + HCO3 ) – (Ca + Mg ) (Eaton, 1950)

The classes of water based on RSC values are as follows:

Table 3: RSC Classification (Source: Wilcox, 1958) RSC Water quality < 1.25 Water can be used safely 1.25 – 2.5 Water can be used with certain management <2.5 Unsuitable for irrigation purposes

www.tjprc.org [email protected] 52 Thenmozhi.M, Thangamani. S & Jayabharathi. J

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1. Physicochemical Analysis of Groundwater

Electrical Conductivity (EC), pH and TDS

The results obtained from the study area, the measured EC and pH value ranges between 217 to 8533 mg/l and 7.9 to 8.5 with alkaline in nature. The areas like Thittakudi and Virudhachalam taluk comes under the category of C3 and Cuddalore and Chidambaram taluk lies in the category of C4. (C3 and C4 – High and Very high salinity). To determine the suitability of irrigation water, Electrical conductivity is an important parameter. From spatial interpolation map of EC, it was observed that, only three places are Kattumanarkoil, Panruti, Kurinjippadi shows the suitability for irrigation. Remaining areas (4) are not suitable for irrigation due to dissolved minerals like, chloride, sodium, nitrate, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, and sulphate (fig.2). The sum of all dissolved solids in a groundwater sample is known as the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). The TDS value ranges from 370 to 5812 mg/l in Cuddalore district.

Hardness

Hardness in water is caused by dissolved calcium and, to a lesser extent, magnesium. It is usually expressed as the equivalent quantity of calcium carbonate (WHO, 2004). According to Sawyer and McCarthy (1967), water can be categorized as soft (>75 mg L−1), moderately hard (75 to 150 mg L−1), hard (150 to 300 mg L−1), and very hard (above 300 mg L−1).The Total hardness value of the study area ranges between 161 to 1522 mg/l. Hence, all the groundwater samples in the entire blocks of the study area lie in hard and very hard category.

Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR)

The alkali or sodium hazard can be expressed in terms of sodium adsorption ratio (Gholami and Srikantaswamy, 2009). In this study, the SAR values ranges from 1.39 to 28.74. Most of the samples from Magalur, Nallur, Vridhachalam, Cuddalore and Kattumannarkovil are in safe category whereas as Bhuvanagiri, Kurinjipadi areas come under unsuitable for irrigation.

Residual Sodium Carbonate

Based on the study conducted by (Singh et al., 2020), results found that the higher Residual Sodium Carbonate values indicate that much of the calcium and some magnesium ions get precipitated from the solution, and thus results in the percentage of sodium increases in water and soil particles, which leads to increases the potential of sodium hazard. The RSC values of most of the groundwater samples indicate that, the groundwater is unsuitable for irrigation.

Water Quality Index (WQI)

Water Quality Index (WQI) is defined as a rating reflecting the composite influence of different water quality parameters on the overall quantity of water. The spatial distribution map of water quality index was shown in Fig.2. The result shows that, most of the areas in Cuddalore district are unfit for drinking water purpose.

Impact Factor (JCC): 8.3083 NAAS Rating: 4.13 Groundwater Quality: Estimation of Spatial Variation using Idw Spatial Analyst in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu 53

a) pH b) Total Dissolved Solids

c) Chlorine d) Sodium

www.tjprc.org [email protected] 54 Thenmozhi.M, Thangamani. S & Jayabharathi. J

e)Calcium f)Magnesium

g)Bicarbonate h)Carbonate

Impact Factor (JCC): 8.3083 NAAS Rating: 4.13 Groundwater Quality: Estimation of Spatial Variation using Idw Spatial Analyst in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu 55

i) Water Quality Index j) Sodium Adsorption Ratio

k)Residual Sodium Carbonate l) Electrical Conductivity Figure 2: Water Quality Parameters of the Study Area

www.tjprc.org [email protected] 56 Thenmozhi.M, Thangamani. S & Jayabharathi. J

5. CONCLUSIONS

The groundwater of Cuddalore district was alkaline and hard to very hard in nature. The water quality index data showed that most of the sampling areas were unfit for the drinking purposes. From the Water Quality Index map, the majority of the areas are poor to very poor in quality. The industrialization was the main causes for the water crisis and pollution. From this assessment, the groundwater of Cuddalore district is identified as the most polluted district for the drinking water purpose and also the study identified the taluks like Kattumanarkoil, Panruti, Kurinjippadi to develop the activities in terms of agriculture or water resources development with the appropriate measures. Government authority may give priority to the places like Thittakudi, Virudhachalam, Cuddalore and Chidambaram taluk, while implementing the measures to improve the groundwater quality.

REFERENCES

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