154-Case Study on Assessment of Ground Water Quality at Ludhiana.

Abstract

The studies were undertaken for the Assessment of Ground Water Quality of Ludhiana metrocity (Punjab). The ground water flow in the city is from North to South. There is no source of surface water in the study area (Ludhiana). All the requirement of water is met by the ground water available in the area. The ground water is mostly used for drinking purposes as well as for industrial, irrigation and other uses in the region. The present case study was carried out for Ludhiana metro city for assessment of ground water quality with the objectives to assess its ground water quality during pre and post monsoon periods located at locations a Industrial zone; b. Municipal solid waste dumping site and c. Residential zone. A total of 25 numbers samples for each seasons were collected. These.were for Physical, Chemical and Biological constituents for the pre monsoon and post monsoon season. All the results were evaluated with respect to BIS Standard on Drinking Water IS 10500 and World Health Organisation. The pH at all the locations is almost neutral ranging between 7.4-7.5 which is well within the standard limit indicating thereby that the water in this area is suitable for drinking. The Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) are ranging between 416 to 452 rng/L and the Conductivity ranges between 690 to 774 pmhos/cm, which confirms the correlation between the two that the conductivity increases on increase of TDS. The values of Fluoride are ranging between 0.77 to 0.81 mg/L and Hardness between 216 to 232 mg/L which are within the specified limits at all the locations. The cations and anions are within limits at all the locations. The values of Alkalinity are ranging between 287 to 304 mg/L which is higher than the prescribed standard and could be mainly due geological conditions of location. The heavy metals in this area are not very high ranging between 0.01 to 0.08 mg/L. The total and fecal conforms are also negligible ranging between < 2.0 MPN/100 mL at all the locations indicating thereby that there is no bacteriological contamination. Results indicate that rapid urbanization and industrialization are major source of inorganic, organic and heavy metals in ground water. The quality of ground water from a few shallow tube wells has been impaired in some of the areas. However, the deep bore tube wells have not yet been affected.