Studies on Groundwater Quality of Kunnamangalam Grama Panchayat Calicut, Kerala (India)

Abstract

A ~tudy was carried out to assess the groundwater quality of Kunnamangalam Grama Panchayat, Calicut, Kerala. Out of 110 groundwater samples analysed, 9391:- of samples were acidic in nature and 4%- sample~ had iron content beyond the desirable limit as per BIS in all seasons. Majority of the samples (9 I%) were bacteriologically contaminated in all the seasons. Studies on groundwater chemistry using Piper diagram revealed that calcium and bicarbonates are the major dominating cation and anion in all the water type. Two major hydrochemical water types Ca-Na-Mg-CI-HCO, and Ca-Na-Cl- HCO1 constituting 90% of groundwater sources in the study area have been identified. A systematic calculation was made to determine the correlation coefficient 'r' amongst the various water quality parameters and the significant values of the observed correlation coefficiem between the parameters was worked out. Total hardness, chloride, calcium and magnesium exhibited a positive correlation with total dissolved solids. Similarly total hardness showed a significant correlation with calcium, magnesium and potassium. A negative correlation was found between pH and chloride. The present study revealed that groundwater sources were not polluted with respect to physico-chemical assessment. All the values were within permissible limit when compared with Bureau of Indian Standards except pH. But bacteriological studies revealed that groundwater was not fit for drinking purposes due to the presence of coliform bacteria.