Hydrogeochemical Evaluation of Groundwater Quality for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes Using Water Quality Index in Semi Arid Region of India

Groundwater is an important natural resource serving as a reliable source for drinking as well irrigation purposes worldwide. This study was aimed to evaluate the hydrochemistry of groundwater in southern Haryana. An assessment of measured physico-chemical parameters of 64 samples sites have shown that groundwater is contaminated by higher concentrations of HCO3, Na, Mg, and SO4 beyond the permissible limit of BIS standards. Water quality index (WQI) result indicates that 45.31% area has poor and very poor quality of water for drinking purposes. Irrigation groundwater suitability for the study area has been evaluated with various methods such as EC, SAR, RSC, SP, KR, MH, PI, Piper-trilinear diagram and USSL diagram. Among these parameters, SAR, RSC and PI, water samples fall in excellent and safe water quality, while SP, KR and MH imply to unsuitable and unsafe for irrigation. Piper diagram indicates that the water chemistry is dominated by Sodium and Potassium (Na+K) type, followed by mixed type. According to the USSL classification more than 85% of the samples fall under C3S1, C3S2, C4S1, C4S2 classes of irrigation water indicating very high salinity which is alarming considering the use of this water for irrigation.