Abstract

STUDY ON GROUNDWATER QUALITY AND ITS SUITABILITY FOR DRINKING PURPOSE IN KUNNAM TALUK, PERAMBALUR DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU, INDIA.

Lilly Florence P.*, Bhasiriya K. and Menaka Devi S.

ABSTRACT

The present study has been made to evaluate the status of physico-chemical contaminants and their sources in groundwater of Kunnam Taluk. 25 groundwater samples were collected from openwells at the different locations of Kunnam Taluk during pre-monsoon season (PM1) (July 2009) and post-monsoon season (PM2) (January 2010). The physico-chemical parameters such as pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Salinity (SAL), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Hardness (TH), Calcium Hardness (CH), Magnesium Hardness (MH), Total Alkalinity (TA) and Fluoride (F) have been analyzed. The results were compared with water quality standards prescribed by WHO and an attempt has been made to find the suitability of groundwater quality for drinking purpose through Water Quality Index (WQI). The corrosive nature of the water samples was calculated using Langelier Saturation Index (LSI). The correlation coefficients were calculated for water quality assessment.

Keywords: Correlation matrix, Groundwater, Kunnam, Water quality parameters, WQI, LSI.