Groundwater quality assessment of Dhanbad district, Jharkhand, India

Groundwater quality assessment is important to ensure sustainable safe use of water. However describing the overall water quality in the Dhanbad coal mining area of India is difficult due to the spatial variability of multiple contaminants and wide range of indicators that could be measured. An attempt has been made to study the spatial variation of groundwater quality based on an integrated analysis of physico-chemical parameters and use of Geographic Information System (GIS). Using GIS contouring methods with Arcview 3.2a, spatial distribution maps of Hardness, pH, TDS, HCO3, SO4, NO3, Ca, Mg, Cl, and F have been created. From the Water Quality Index map it is inferred that despite the mining and heavy industry, the quality of water is predominantly good to excellent.