View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ePrints@Bangalore University 4 (2&3) : 153-162, 2010 NSave Nature to Survive QUARTERLY MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE GEOCHEMISTRY OF GROUNDWATER IN VARAHI RIVER BASIN OF UDUPI IN KARNATAKA (INDIA) P. RAVIKUMAR* AND R. K. SOMASHEKAR Department of Environmental Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore - 560 056 E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION The Varahi Irrigation project dam site is located at approximately 6km from Siddapura, Water is very vital for nature and can be a limiting resource to human and other Kundapura taluk, Udupi district with latitude living beings. Without a well functioning water supply, it is difficult to imagine of 13º39’ 15" N and a longitude of 74º57’E. productive human activity be it agriculture or livestock. Groundwater is the main Groundwater quality in the study area was source of irrigation in arid and semi-arid regions in the world. The quality of water evaluated for its suitability for drinking and is of at most importance to quantity in any water supply planning and its quality irrigation purposes by collecting 36 samples during pre-monsoon period of the year 2005. is influenced by natural and anthropogenic effects including local climate, geology The quality assessment was made by estimating and irrigation practices. The quality of any groundwater is a function of the physical, physico-chemical parameters, major cations chemical and biological parameters, and could be subjective, since it depends and anions, besides irrigation quality on a particular intended use (Tatawat and Chandel, 2008).