GROUNDWATER QUALITY IN THE SHALLOW AQUIFERS OF THE HADAUTI PLATEAU OF THE DISTRICT OF BARAN, RAJASTHAN, INDIA

With the rapid pace of agricultural development, industrialization and urbanization, the commonly observed geogenic contaminants in groundwater are fluoride and nitrate, whereas nitrate is the dominant anthropogenic contaminant in the south-eastern plains of Rajasthan, India. Samples obtained using a tube well and hand pump in November, 2012, demonstrate that Na-Cl is the dominant salt in the groundwater, and the total salinity of the water is between 211-1056 mg L-1. Moreover, the observed sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC) values ranged between 0.87 to 26.22 meq L-1 and - 12.5 to 30.5 meq L-1 respectively. The study further shows that 6% of the total samples contain high amounts of nitrate, and 49% contain fluoride. A water quality index (WQI) rating was carried out using nine parameters to quantify the overall groundwater quality status of the area.