Skip to main content

Assessment on Seasonal Variation of Groundwater Quality of Phreatic Aquifers – a River Basin System

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 117, pages 45–57 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Spatial distribution of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), fluoride and total iron content of ground water samples collected from the muvattupuzha river basin, Kerala, India, has been studied for pre monsoon and post monsoon periods of year 2001. Results showed the groundwater of the basin is acidic for which the pH values ranged between 5.5 and 8.0. Average EC was found to be less than 100 μS/cm, for most of the study region. The pre monsoon minimum and maximum TDS were found as 25.6 and 227.84 mg/L respectively, where as post monsoon values ranged between 16 and 162.56 mg/L. The relatively low EC and TDS values found both during the seasons in the lateritic terrain of the river basin signifies the lower residence time of ground water with the country rock. This makes the groundwater quality of this river basin as good. Pre monsoon season samples showed high total iron content than that during the post monsoon period. During the study period values of the fluoride contents were found to be within the permissible limits.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • APHA: 1985, Standard Methods for the Analysis of Water and Waste Water, 16th edn., American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Applin, K. R. and Zhao, N.: 1989, ‘The kinetics of Fe (II) oxidation and well screen encrustation’, Ground Wat. 27(2), 168–174.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aravindan, S.: 1999, ‘Integrated hydrogeological studies in hard rocks aquifer system of Gadilam river basin’, Tamil Nadu, India, Ph.D Thesis (unpublished), Bharathidasan University, p. 110.

  • Ashley, R. P. and Burely, M. J.: 1994, ‘Controls on the occurrence of fluoride in the groundwater in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia’, in: H. Nash and G. J. H. McCall (eds), Groundwater Quality, 17th Special Report, Chapman and Hall, pp. 45–54.

  • CESS: 1984, Resource Atlas of Kerala, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

    Google Scholar 

  • CGWB: 1989, ‘Basic data of borewells drilled in Meenachil and Muvattupuzha river basins’, Technical report, FSP 1988–1989.

  • CGWB: 2002, ‘Groundwater balance. Mass awareness programme in Ernakulam district on January 5th 2002 by CGWB, Kerala region’, Thriruvananthapuram, Kerala.

  • CGWB: 2003, ‘A study on seawater ingress in the coastal aquifers in parts of Alleppey and Ernakulam districts’, Kerala, Technical report, AAP 2000–2001, p. 29.

  • Davies, J.: 1994, ‘The hydrogeochemistry of alluvial aquifers in central Bangladesh. Groundwater Quality’, in: H. Nash and G. J. H. McCall (eds), 17th Special Report, Chapman and Hall, pp. 9–18.

  • ISI: 1983, Indian Standard Methods of Sampling and Test (Physical and Chemical) Methods for Water Used in Industry, p. 122.

  • Karanth, K. R.: 1987, Groundwater Assessment Development and Management, Tata Mc Graw-Hill, New Delhi, p. 720.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langmuir, D.: 1997, Aqueous Environmental Chemistry, Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, p. 600.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, J. W. and Heathcote, J. A.: 1985, Natural Inorganic Hydrochemistry in Relation to Ground Water —An Introduction, Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao, N. and Ramadurai, S.: 1970, ‘Systematic geo-hydrological survey of the coastal plains in Malapuram, Trichur and Ernakulam Districts, Kerala state’, GSI report.

  • Raghunath, R. Sreedhara Murthy, T. R. and Raghavan, B. R.: 2001, ‘Spatial distribution of pH, EC and total dissolved solids of Nethravathi river basin, Karnataka state, India’, Pollu. Res. 20(3), 413–418.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singhal, B. B. S. and Gupta, R. P.: 1999, Applied Hydrogeology of Fractured Rocks, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, p. 400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smedly, P. L.: 1992, ‘Relationship between trace elements in water and health with special reference to developing countries’. Interim Report 1992 BGS. Tech., Report WD/92/39, p. 33.

  • Trivedi, R. K. and Goel, P. K.: 1986, ‘Chemical and biological methods for water pollution studies’, Environmental Publication, Karad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Venugopal, T. N.: 1998, ‘Hydrogeological investigation in the Arkavathi river basin —A tributary of Cauvery river’, Karnataka, Ph.D Thesis (unpublished), Mysore University, p. 224.

  • White, A. F., Benson, S. M., Yee, A. W., Woiienberg, H. A. and Flexser, S.: 1991, ‘Groundwater contamination at Kesterson reservoir, California: geochemical parameters influencing selenium mobility’, Wat. Resource Res. 27, 1085–1098.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO: 1984, ‘Guidelines for drinking water quality’, Recommendations, Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre, Cochin, India

    C. M. Laluraj

  2. Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India

    Girish Gopinath

Authors
  1. C. M. Laluraj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Girish Gopinath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. M. Laluraj.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Laluraj, C.M., Gopinath, G. Assessment on Seasonal Variation of Groundwater Quality of Phreatic Aquifers – a River Basin System. Environ Monit Assess 117, 45–57 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-7675-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-7675-5

Keywords

  • groundwater quality
  • phreatic aquifers
  • pre and post monsoon periods
  • river basin