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Assessment of Spring Water Quality Using Water Quality Indices and Multivariate Statistical Techniques in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand

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Abstract

Springs are the important source of natural water supply in hilly regions of Uttarakhand since ancient times. Due to erratic rainfall patterns, seismic activity, landslides and changes in land use in association with climate change are impacting the mountain aquifer system badly resulting in half of the Himalayan springs either have died, reduced discharge, becoming seasonal or deteriorating their water quality. The 18 spring water samples were collected from the Pithoragarh block of the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. The assessment of 20 physicochemical parameters namely colour, odour, taste, temperature, pH, Total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, turbidity, total hardness, calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, free carbon dioxide CO2, acidity, alkalinity, sulphate, Calcium hardness and Magnesium hardness as carried out in the laboratory and evaluated values was compared with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards to adjudge the suitability of water for drinking as well irrigation purposes. The spatial distribution maps were created using the inverse distance weighting method. The water quality indices (WQI) for drinking and irrigation purposes were also developed using the weighted arithmetic index method for selected parameters. On the basis of the average value of physicochemical parameters, no water sample was found completely suitable for drinking and the main reason for the unsuitability of water for drinking purposes was total hardness; therefore, treatment measures specifically for total hardness removal need to be applied before consumption. Only 5% of the samples were found in the “Excellent” category for drinking purposes in accordance with WQI as per the BIS and WHO standards. For irrigation purposes, on the basis of sodium absorption ratio (SAR) all the water samples can be used for irrigation whereas based on the permeability index 22% of samples are moderated safe and 78% of samples are unsafe for irrigation purposes. The irrigation water quality index showed that no water sample is safe for irrigation purposes. Furthermore, cluster analysis has also been done to classify the quality of water in different ranges for drinking purposes and it has been classified into 3 clusters. On the basis of cluster analysis, it was concluded that cluster-3 was most polluted as compared to cluster-1 and cluster-2.

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Authors of the manuscript declared that they did not receive any internal fund from college or external fund from government or non-government organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 263145, India

    Pankaj Kumar Thakur & Vinod Kumar

  2. Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 263145, India

    Vaibhav Deoli

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  1. Pankaj Kumar Thakur
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Thakur, P.K., Kumar, V. & Deoli, V. Assessment of Spring Water Quality Using Water Quality Indices and Multivariate Statistical Techniques in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A 104, 301–316 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40030-023-00709-w

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