Groundwater quality assessment for drinking and industrial purposes in transboundary aquifers of Gurdaspur district, Punjab, India

ABSTRACT

The study of groundwater quality for drinking and industrial usage is critically important for the conservation and sustainable management of groundwater resources. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the drinking and industrial groundwater quality status of five blocks of Gurdaspur district, Punjab, India, falling along international boundary of India–Pakistan thus serving as transboundary aquifers, by investigating spatial distribution of drinking and industrial groundwater quality indices using GIS approach. To study the drinking water quality, Groundwater quality index (GWQI) method was applied. The spatial distribution map of GWQI showed that the groundwater quality was poor in the Dera Baba Nanak block as compared to the other blocks. Further, corrosion and scaling indices namely Langelier saturation index (LSI), Aggressive index (AI), Ryznar stability index (RSI), Puckorius index (PI) and Larson-Skold index (LS) were calculated with the help of water quality parameters of all the samples. LSI, AI and RSI indicated the scaling tendency of sampled groundwater while, the other two indices, PI and LS suggested the corrosive behaviour of majority of the sampled groundwater. The findings of GWQI and industrial indices indicated that the groundwater quality was by and large not suitable for drinking and industrial usage in some areas. Therefore, regular and appropriate monitoring of groundwater quality is suggested in the study area and particularly in the regions where groundwater quality issues are reported so as to sustainably manage the groundwater resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Conservation
• sustainable management
• groundwater quality index
• spatial distribution
• corrosion and scaling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).