Assessment of groundwater quality for irrigation: a case study from Bandalamottu lead mining area, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, South India

• Published in: Applied water science 2014-12, Vol.4 (4), p.385-396
• Main Authors: Nagaraju, A., Sunil Kumar, K., Thejaswi, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkalinity; Aquatic Pollution; Calcite; Comparative Law; Crop production; Dolomite; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Groundwater irrigation; Groundwater mining; Hardness; Hydrogeology; Industrial and Production Engineering; International & Foreign Law; Irrigation water; Magnesium; Nanotechnology; Original Article; Private International Law; Salinity; Saturation index; Sodium; Sustainable agriculture; Sustainable production; Waste Water Technology; Water analysis; Water chemistry; Water Industry/Water Technologies; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water quality; Water resources; Water sampling
• ISSN: 2190-5487; 2190-5495
• DOI: 10.1007/s13201-014-0154-1

Quality of water resources in the Bandalamottu area of Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh in South India is facing a serious challenge due to Pb mining. Therefore, 40 groundwater samples were collected from this area to assess their hydrogeochemistry and suitability for irrigation purposes. The groundwater samples were analyzed for distribution of chemical elements Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + , HCO 3 − , CO 3 2− , F − , Cl − , and SO 4 2− . It also includes pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness, non-carbonate hardness and total alkalinity. The parameters, such as sodium absorption ratio (SAR), adjusted SAR, sodium percentage, potential salinity, residual sodium carbonate, non-carbonate hardness, Kelly’s ratio, magnesium ratio, permeability index, indices of base exchange (IBE) and Gibbs ratio were also calculated. The major hydrochemical facieses were Ca–HCO 3 , Ca–Na–HCO 3 and Ca–Mg–Cl types. The result of saturation index calculated by Visual MINTEQ software combined with Gibbs diagram and IBE findings indicate that, dolomite and calcite dissolution and reverse ion exchange can be a major process controlling the water chemistry in the study area. The results also showed that the salinity (85 %, C3 class) and alkalinity due to high concentration of HCO 3 − and CO 3 − and low Ca:Mg molar ratio (97.5 %,