ISSN: 0973-4945; CODEN ECJHAO

E-Journal of Chemistry
http://www.e-journals.net 2009, 6(2), 523-530

Assessment of Water Quality Index for the

Groundwater in Tumkur Taluk,
Karnataka State, India

C. R. RAMAKRISHNAIAH* , C. SADASHIVAIAH# and G. RANGANNA§

*
Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, S.I.T, Tumkur-572103.
#
Karavali Institute of Technology, Neerumarga, Mangalore-575023, India.
§
Department of Mathematics, UGC-CSA,
Central College Campus, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560 001, India.
[email protected]

Received 18 August 2008; Revised 29 November 2008; Accepted 11 December 2008

Abstract: The present work is aimed at assessing the water quality index (WQI)
for the groundwater of Tumkur taluk. This has been determined by collecting
groundwater samples and subjecting the samples to a comprehensive
physicochemical analysis. For calculating the WQI, the following 12 parameters
have been considered: pH, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate,
chloride, nitrate, sulphate, total dissolved solids, iron, manganese and fluorides.
The WQI for these samples ranges from 89.21 to 660.56. The high value of
WQI has been found to be mainly from the higher values of iron, nitrate, total
dissolved solids, hardness, fluorides, bicarbonate and manganese in the
groundwater. The results of analyses have been used to suggest models for
predicting water quality. The analysis reveals that the groundwater of the area
needs some degree of treatment before consumption, and it also needs to be
protected from the perils of contamination
Keywords: Groundwater, Water quality standards, Water quality index, India

Introduction
Groundwater is used for domestic and industrial water supply and irrigation all over the
world. In the last few decades, there has been a tremendous increase in the demand for fresh
water due to rapid growth of population and the accelerated pace of industrialization. Human
health is threatened by most of the agricultural development activities particularly in relation
to excessive application of fertilizers and unsanitary conditions. Rapid urbanization,
especially in developing countries like India, has affected the availability and quality of
524 C. R . RAMAKRISHNAIAH et al.

groundwater due to its overexploitation and improper waste disposal, especially in urban
areas. According to WHO organization, about 80% of all the diseases in human beings are
caused by water. Once the groundwater is contaminated, its quality cannot be restored by
stopping the pollutants from the source. It therefore becomes imperative to regularly monitor
the quality of groundwater and to device ways and means to protect it. Water quality index
is one of the most effective tools1-4 to communicate information on the quality of water to
the concerned citizens and policy makers. It, thus, becomes an important parameter for the
assessment and management of groundwater. WQI is defined as a rating reflecting the
composite influence of different water quality parameters. WQI is calculated from the point
of view of the suitability of groundwater for human consumption.
The objective of the present work is to discuss the suitability of groundwater for human
consumption based on computed water quality index values.
Study area
Tumkur taluk is located in the southeastern corner of Karnataka state between 13° 06'30" to
13° 31' North latitude and 76° 59’ to 77° 19’ East longitude and (Figure 1) covers an area of
1043 sq.km with a population5 of 5,16,661. The major sources of employment are
agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry, which engage almost 80% of the workforce.
The major industries are that of chemicals, oil, cotton, soap, tools, food processing, rice
mills, stone crushing and mining. Occurrence, movement and storage of groundwater are
influenced by lithology, thickness and structure of rock formations. Weathered and fractured
granites, granitic gneiss and shale form the main aquifer of Tumkur taluk (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Location map of the study area.

 Assessment of Water Quality Index for the Groundwater 525

Groundwater in the study area occurs under water table conditions in the weathered and
fractured granite, Gneisses. There is no perennial river in the study area. The major ion
chemistry of groundwater of Tumkur taluk has not been studied earlier.

Figure 2. Geological map of study area.

Methodology
Groundwater samples were collected from 269 locations during pre-monsoon period (February
2006) (Figure 3). Each of the groundwater samples was analyzed for 17 parameters such as
pH, electrical conductivity, TDS, total hardness, bicarbonate, carbonate, chloride, sulphate,
phosphate, nitrate, fluoride, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron and manganese
using standard procedures recommended by APHA6.

Town
limits

Figure 3. Groundwater sampling locations.

526 C. R . RAMAKRISHNAIAH et al.

The chemical parameters obtained were used for regression analysis. The regression
analysis is carried out by taking TDS as dependent variable and Ca, Mg, Cl, SO4, NO3, Na
and (HCO3+CO3) as independent variables. Trend analysis represents the process of using
the analysed data for predictions. This may be used to predict or forecast values of the
dependent variable. The regression models can be used to find out the ionic concentration of
the groundwater samples, if the dependent variable TDS is measured for different locations,
by inverse calculations. Water quality index is calculated from the point of view of
suitability of groundwater for human consumption.
Results and Discussion
The chemical analyses of the groundwater and the percent compliance with the Indian
Standards7 and WHO8 are summarized in Table 1. Normal statistics of water quality
parameters of 269 groundwater samples are presented in Table 2.
Table 1. Comparison of groundwater quality with drinking water standards, Indian and
WHO.
Indian Percent WHO Percent
Parameters
Standard compliance Standard compliance
pH 6.5-8.5 98.5 7.0-8.0 91
Electrical
- - - -
conductivity
Total dissolved
500 70 1,000 96.5
solids
Total hardness as
300 70 100 0.5
CaCO3, mg/L
Carbonate, mg/L - - - -
Bicarbonate, mg/L - - - -
Chloride, mg/L 250 97 250 97
Sulphate, mg/L 200 100 250 100
Phosphate, mg/L - - - -
Nitrate, mg/L 45 51.5 50 56.5
Fluoride, mg/L 1 30 1 30
Calcium, mg/L 75 96 75 96
Magnesium, mg/L 30 26 30 26
Sodium, mg/L - - 200 -
Potassium, mg/L - - - -
Iron, mg/L 0.3 0.5 0.1 0.5
Manganese, mg/L 0.1 17 0.05 17
The following regression models have been obtained from the results of analysis of
water samples. Considering a known value of TDS, the percentage contribution of each ion
can be obtained by substituting an average ionic value for the entire study area for pre-
monsoon season.
Ca++ = 0.0368 TDS + 15.435
Mg++ = 0.0594 TDS + 19.311
HCO3-+CO3-- = 0.1063 TDS + 157.26
Cl- = 0.1914 TDS + 8.6634
SO4 -- = 0.0383 TDS + 12.902
 Assessment of Water Quality Index for the Groundwater 527

NO3-= 0.0528 TDS + 32.852

Na+= 0.0378 TDS + 23.685
Total hardness = 0.9937 (Ca+Mg) Hardness + 1.7501
Conductivity, µmohs/cm = 1.9151 TDS - 2.6814
Table 2. Normal statistics of water quality parameters of groundwater samples.
Pre-monsoon samples (2006)
Parameters
Min Max AM SD CV Q1 Med Q3
pH 6.61 8.90 7.5 0.416 5.548 7.42 7.46 7.48
Electrical conductivity
130 3000 874.3 85.48 81.23 530 760 560
µmohs/cm
Total dissolved solids 70 1500 453.3 479.5 54.84 280 400 560
Total hardness as
70 1060 271.4 129.1 47.55 224 248 272
CaCO3
Bicarbonate 45 550 199.4 47.86 27.77 155 196 226
Chloride 4.9 662.3 105.2 12.68 55.96 49.98 79.98 141.5
Sulphate 1.5 174 29.93 29.65 32.92 12 22.5 35
Phosphate 0.05 5.6 1.49 1.266 85.15 0.6 1.1 1.9
Nitrate 261 0.44 54.3 48.58 144.2 17.72 42.09 69.5
Fluoride 0.02 3.2 1.43 23.26 65.33 1.0 1.5 1.8
Calcium 1.60 174.7 31.21 21.3 68.22 17.64 27.25 38.48
Magnesium 0.24 229.4 47.06 29.2 62.06 29.4 41.8 57.83
Sodium 4 140 29.65 19.95 99.05 27 35 48
Potassium 1 27 3.79 3.229 49.47 2 3 5
Iron 0.1 4.72 1.95 48.58 89.46 1.56 1.9 2.2
Manganese 0.05 5.5 0.76 0.624 43.55 0.2 0.3 0.85
All units except pH and Electrical conductivity are in mg/l, Min-Minimum, Max-Maximum, AM-
Arithmetic mean, SD-Standard deviation, CV-Coefficient variation, Q1-Median of the lower half, Q3-
Median of the upper half, Med-Median
For computing WQI three steps are followed. In the first step, each of the 19 parameters
has been assigned a weight (wi) according to its relative importance in the overall quality of
water for drinking purposes (Table 3). The maximum weight of 5 has been assigned to the
parameter nitrate due to its major importance in water quality assessment. Magnesium which
is given the minimum weight of 1 as magnesium by itself may not be harmful. Other
In the second step, the relative weight (Wi) is computed from t he following equation:

(1)
Where, Wi is the relative weight, wi is the weight of each parameter and n is the number of
parameters. Calculated relative weight (Wi) values of each parameter are also given in Table 3.
In the third step, a quality rating scale (qi) for each parameter is assigned by dividing its
concentration in each water sample by its respective standard according to the guidelines
laid down in the BIS and the result multiplied by 100:
qi = (Ci / Si ) x 100 (2)
528 C. R . RAMAKRISHNAIAH et al.

Table 3. Relative weight of chemical parameters.

Chemical parameters Indian Standards Weight (wi) Relative weight (Wi)
pH 6.5-8.5 4 0.09756
Total hardness (TH) 300-600 2 0.04878
Calcium 75-200 2 0.04878
Magnesium 30-100 2 0.02439
Bicarbonate 244-732 3 0.07317
Chloride 250-1,000 3 0.07317
Total dissolved
500-2,000 4 0.09756
solids (TDS)
Fluoride 1-1.5 4 0.09756
Manganese 0.1-0.3 4 0.09756
Nitrate 45-100 5 0.12195
Iron 0.3-1.0 4 0.09756
Sulphate 200-400 4 0.09756
∑ wi = 41 ∑ Wi = 1.000
Groundwater Quality Variation
where qi is the quality rating, Ci is the concentration of each chemical parameter in each
water sample in mg/L, and Si is the Indian drinking water standard for each chemical
parameter in mg/L according to the guidelines of the BIS7 10500, 1991.
For computing the WQI, the SI is first determined for each chemical parameter, which
is then used to determine the WQI as per the following equation
SIi = Wi . qi (3)
WQI = ∑ SIi (4)
SIi is the subindex of ith parameter; qi is the rating based on concentration of ith
parameter and n is the number of parameters. The computed WQI values are classified into
five types, “excellent water” to “water, unsuitable for drinking”.
Electrical conductivity of water is a direct function of its total dissolved salts9. Hence it is an
index to represent the total concentration of soluble salts in water10. In our study area, the electrical
conductivity of the groundwater samples varied between 130- 3000 µS/cm during pre-monsoon.
The permissible total dissolved salts for drinking water is 500 mg/L. In the absence of
potable water source the permissible limit is upto 2000 mg/L. It is found from the analysis,
all the well water samples TDS is within the maximum limit of 2000 mg/L in pre-monsoon
period. The range of TDS levels in the study area is 70-1500 mg/L. Total 84 samples in pre-
monsoon period show TDS value beyond the desirable limit of 500 mg/L. The highest
concentration of total dissolved solids was found to be 1500mg/L at Devalapura (N 13.48780
E 77.105250) due to dense residential area and due to intensive irrigation in that area. High
values of TDS in groundwater are generally not harmful to human beings but high
concentration of these may affect persons, who are suffering from kidney and heart
diseases11. Water containing high solids may cause laxative or constipation effects12.
During pre-monsoon season of the year 2006, based on the comparisons of chemical
constituents with WHO (1994) standards, it is found that, for 269 water samples, eleven samples
have total hardness value above maximum permissible limit of 500 mg/L. Total hardness varies
from 70 to 1060 mg/L. The hardness values for the study area are found to be high for almost all
locations for pre-monsoon and determined to fall above the desirable limit of WHO specification.
According to Sawyer and McCarty’s classification13 for hardness, 26 samples fall under the
 Assessment of Water Quality Index for the Groundwater 529

moderately hard class and 242 samples fall under the hard class to very hard class for pre-
monsoon water samples.
Chloride is a widely distributed element in all types of rocks in one or the other form. Its
affinity towards sodium is high. Therefore, its concentration is high in ground waters, where the
temperature is high and rainfall is less. Soil porosity and permeability also has a key role in
building up the chlorides concentration14. The chloride content in rural part of Tumkur taluk was
found to be well within the permissible levels. The chloride content ranges from 5 to 662 mg/L.
In Tumkur taluk, the nitrate value varies from 0.4 to 261 ppm for the pre-monsoon period.
For the post-monsoon period, the value varies from 0.39 to 149 ppm. The nitrate value for the
study area is found to be more than 45 ppm as per WHO (1994) in 131 locations. More nitrate
value is found in the rural part of the study area due to over-application of fertilizer, improper
manure management practices, and improper operation and maintenance of septic systems.
In this study, the computed WQI values ranges from 89.21 to 660.56 and therefore, can
be categorized into five types “excellent water” to “water unsuitable for drinking”. Table 4
shows the percentage of water samples that falls under different quality. The high value of
WQI at these stations has been found to be mainly from the higher values of iron, nitrate,
total dissolved solids, hardness, fluorides, bicarbonate and manganese in the groundwater.
Table 4. Water quality classification based on WQI value
Percentage of water samples
WQI value Water quality
(Pre-monsoon)
<50 excellent 00
50-100 good water 1.5
100-200 poor water 63.5
200-300 very poor water 22
Water unsuitable
>300 13.0
for drinking
The degree of a linear association between any two of the water quality parameters, as
measured by the simple correlation coefficient (r), is presented in Table 5. Magnesium and
chloride are highly interrelated among themselves. This interrelationship indicates that the
hardness of the water is permanent in nature.
Table 5. Correlation coefficient matrix of water quality parameters.
Para-
meter pH TH Ca Mg HCO3 Cl TDS FL Mn NO3 Fe SO4
pH 1
TH -0.28 1
Ca -0.22 0.356 1
Mg -0.21 0.912 -0.06 1
HCO3 -0.14 0.479 0.104 0.469 1
Cl -0.21 0.767 0.287 0.698 0.015 1
TDS -0.23 0.709 0.342 0.61 0.208 0.746 1
FL 0.111 -0.04 -0.14 0.015 0.085 -0.14 -0.16 1
Mn -0.03 -0.08 -0.12 -0.04 0.097 -0.16 -0.07 0.057 1
NO3 -0.24 0.181 0.329 0.047 0.096 -0.12 0.144 0.007 0.113 1
Fe -0 0.009 -0 0.007 0.043 0.024 -0.01 0.048 0.087 -0.13 1
SO4 -0.24 0.364 0.249 0.282 0.269 0.014 0.225 0.059 0.038 0.417 -0.1 1
530 C. R . RAMAKRISHNAIAH et al.

Conclusions
The WQI for 269 samples ranges from 89.21 to 660.56. Almost ninety nine percent of the
samples exceeded 100, the upper limit for drinking water. The high value of WQI at these
stations has been found to be mainly from the higher values of iron, nitrate, total dissolved
solids, hardness, fluorides, bicarbonate, chloride and manganese in the groundwater. About
63.5% of water samples are poor in quality. In this part, the groundwater quality may
improve due to inflow of freshwater of good quality during rainy season. Magnesium and
chloride are significantly interrelated and indicates that the hardness of the water is
permanent in nature. The analysis reveals that the groundwater of the area needs some
degree of treatment before consumption, and it also needs to be protected from the perils of
contamination
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