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Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes: a case study of Peddavanka watershed, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh, India

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

In India, the quantity and quality of water available for irrigation is variable from place to place. Assessment of water quality has been carried out to determine the sources of dissolved ions in groundwater. Quality of groundwater in a 398 km2 Peddavanka watershed of a semi-arid region of south India is evaluated for its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes. The middle Proterozoic Cuddapah Supergroup and Kurnool Group of rocks underlie most of the watershed. The main lithologic units consist chiefly of quartzite, limestone, and shale. Seventy-six water samples were collected from open-wells and bore-holes. Water samples were collected representative of the post-monsoon (winter) and pre-monsoon (summer). The quality assessment is made through the estimation of Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl−, SO 2−4 , CO 2−3 , HCO −3 , total hardness as CaCO3, TDS, EC, and pH. Based on these analyses, parameters like sodium adsorption ratio, % sodium, residual sodium carbonate, non-carbonate hardness, potential salinity, Kelley’s ratio, magnesium ratio, index of base exchange and permeability index were calculated. According to Gibbs‘ ratio samples in both seasons fall in the rock dominance field. The overall quality of waters in the study area in post-monsoon season is high for all constituents ruling out pollution from extraneous sources.

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Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge Dr.V.P.Dimri, Director, NGRI, for his constant encouragement and permission to publish this work. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr.P.K. Govil, Head, Environmental Geochemistry, Dr. M.N. Rao, and Dr. D. Muralidharan, NGRI, for their constructive comments and useful suggestions. The financial assistance provided by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, by awarding Research Associate fellowship is gratefully acknowledged. I thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive review of the manuscript and I am very much grateful to the Editor for editorial revision.

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  1. Environmental Geochemistry Group, National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, 500 007, India

    S. Srinivasa Gowd

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  1. S. Srinivasa Gowd
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Correspondence to S. Srinivasa Gowd.

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Gowd, S.S. Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes: a case study of Peddavanka watershed, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Environ Geol 48, 702–712 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-005-0009-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-005-0009-z

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