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Water Quality Assessment for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes in Mahananda River Basin of Bangladesh

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Abstract

This study aims to assess the water quality of the Mahananda River in Bangladesh and its suitability for drinking and agricultural uses. For water quality determination, 15 samples were collected from different sites of the Mahananda River to calculate Water Quality Index (WQI) and Entropy Water Quality Index (EWQI). Result shows that among different Hydrochemical parameters, carbonate and bicarbonate concentrations crossed the maximum limit in all the samples, while fluoride concentration exceeding in Sample-15 with the highest value found in Baroghoria area. From WQI result, water quality for the Baroghoria area was found unsuitable for drinking with WQI − 309.22, whereas another two samples of Mollikpur and Namo Neemgachi fall under ‘poor’ category with WQI of 184.49 and 198.99, respectively. EWQI reveals medium to excellent water quality. Result from different irrigation indices (Na%, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), magnesium hazard (MH), total hardness, Kelly ratio (KR), and permeability index (PI) values) showed their suitability for irrigation. Principal component analysis (PCA) explained a total of 89.71% of variances in the dataset. Significant positive association within EC–Na, EC–sulfate, Ca–TH, nitrate–sulfate, etc., were reported indicating prominence in terms of both geogenic as well as anthropogenic processes such as silicate weathering and the release of untreated sewerage, respectively, which governs the water quality evolution in the study area. Cluster analysis (CA) classifies all water samples in five different clusters based on five different characteristics. Mahananda River water is found safe for both drinking and agricultural purposes, except for few samples near the dense human settlement areas. Result from this study is useful for decision makers to design management plans for the river water quality, environmental pollution and human well-being.

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Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Department of Geography and Environment, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.

Funding

This study has not received any funding for any of the research activities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Environment, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh

    Tasnim Abdary Anonna & Zia Ahmed

  2. BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh

    Rafiul Alam

  3. Beach Sand Minerals Exploitation Centre, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Md. Masud Karim

  4. Department of Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Zhixiao Xie

  5. Adaptation and Water Research Unit, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Kanagawa, 240-0115, Japan

    Pankaj Kumar

  6. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Zhang

  7. Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo-Ourense Campus, 32004, Ourense, Spain

    Jesus Simal-Gandara

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  1. Tasnim Abdary Anonna
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  2. Zia Ahmed
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Contributions

TAA and ZA conceptualized and contributed to the preliminary concept of the study under the supervision of ZA and MMK. TAA collected the primary data and completed the investigation and formal analysis. Subsequently, RA did the statistical analysis. TAA drafted the initial version. ZA, ZF, JSG and RA completed all necessary revisions and editing in the manuscript. Meanwhile, TAA completed the final draft, and PK and ZX gave intellectual input to the manuscript. After that, TAA, ZA and RA revised it critically. Finally, all the authors approved this final version.

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Correspondence to Zia Ahmed.

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This manuscript does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Anonna, T.A., Ahmed, Z., Alam, R. et al. Water Quality Assessment for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes in Mahananda River Basin of Bangladesh. Earth Syst Environ 6, 87–98 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-021-00274-x

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