CS(AR)-200 : Ground water quality monitoring and evaluation in and around greater Guwahati (Assam) Part-I : Preliminary

Abstract

The quality of ground water varies from place to place and from time to time. Good quality water drown from a particular strata at a particular time of the year may be unsuitable drawn at other time due to various factors. The quality of water depends on a large number of individual, hydrological, physical, chemical and biological factors. Some parameters are of special importance and deserve frequent attention and observation, while others (like physical parameters) give a rough picture of water body and its quality status.

Ground water quality variation problem can be understood only by the regular monitoring of quality of water. In Greater Guwahati rapid industrial and population growth has taken place during the last decade. The adverse effect on water quality because of this urbanisation has been the concern of the people. Therefore, it was proposed to study ground water quality in and around Greater Guwahati. Samples from twenty three dug wells, representing the shallow unconfined aquifer, were collected in pre and post monsoon season of 1994 and 1995 and analysed for various physical parameters, viz., temperature, pH, conductivity. % light transmission, oxygen reduction potential, total dissolved solids etc. The findings of the water quality tests on the representative time variant samples should be useful to have a first hand knowledge about the quality standards of ground water which is the source of drinking water for a vast population of elite citizens of the locality.