CS(AR)-21/97-98 : Ground water quality monitoring and evaluation in Jammu and Kathua districts, J&K

Abstract

In the present report, chemical characteristics of ground water of Jammu and Kathua Districts have been studied on the basis of 30 water samples collected from open wells during July and December, 1997. The water quality has been evaluated for drinking and irrigation purposes. The suitability of water for drinking purposes has been compared with the standards norms i.e. BIS, 1983 and WHO, 1984. The suitability of water for irrigation purposes has been evaluated on the basis of salinity levels, SAR and RSC. The water has also been classified on the basis of Piper's diagram for determining hydrochemical facies and U.S. Salinity diagram for irrigation purposes using Ground Water Software (version-1, 1989). The behaviour of water levels fluctuation has been studied on the basis of water levels data for January, May, July and December, 1997.

The average values of pH have indicated alkaline nature of ground water in the study area the except at the few wells. The high values of calcium, magnesium and sodium than the prescribed limits for drinking purposes were obtained at certain number of wells in the study area. The concentration of chloride at all wells was within the prescribed limits for drinking purposes under the present sampling program. The water samples have shown that the sulphate at almost all wells was within the limit (150 mg/l) for drinking purposes except at 2 wells during July and one well during December, 1997 respectively. The nitrate concentration was within the limit for drinking purposes except at Londi (79 and 78 mg/l). The concentration of fluoride was below desirable limit (0.6-1.2 mg/I) at about 83% of wells under the present study and therefore, suitable public health measures should be taken.

The majority of wells lie under high salinity zone. However, remaining few wells are under medium salinity and very high salinity zones. Whereas, SAR values have shown that all samples lie below 10 and may be classified under excellent category of water for irrigation. The results obtained through Piper's diagram have shown that, all wells are falling under Ca²+, Mg²+, HCO3- hydrochemical facies during both sampling programs except at 3 well locations. The U. S. Salinity diagrams have shown that majority of water samples (26 and 20. number of wells) were falling under C3-S1 (high salinity- low SAR) category during July and December, 1997 respectively. The water levels data from 30 wells in the present study have shown that about 26% wells during January, about 13% during May, about 20% during July and about 23% of wells during December, 1997 were found within 2.0 m depth below ground level.