Assessment of groundwater quality of borewells water of hospet Taluka region, Karnataka, India

Abstract

During the course of water quality studies of Hospet taluka region in Bellary district, Karnataka, 40 groundwater samples were collected and chemically analysed. The analysis revealed that the water was slightly alkaline (pH: 7.1 - 8.2), moderately hard (TH: 130 - 892 mg/L) and TDS values ranged from 240 to 1650 mg/L. The other parameters like SAR (2.7-13.5), percent sodium (10.2 - 54.0) and magnesium ratio (7.8 -21.5) were also below the desirable limits. Fluoride was most dominant ion responsible for contamination of the groundwater. Eleven water samples of the study area were prone to excess fluoride concentration (>1.2mg/L) and not suitable for drinking purpose. According to USSL diagram most of the samples falls in C2S1, C2S2, C3S1 and C3S2, which indicating its suitable nature for drinking and irrigation purposes. Based on the Piper trilinear diagram it was confirmed that the dug wells were characterized by secondary alkalinity in the study area. The presence of E-coli in only five dug wells, and only one dug well indicated potential dangerous facel contamination, which require immediate attention.