2024, Vol. 7, Special Issue 8

author(s)
Srividya N, T Anjaiah, Shankaraiah M and Siva Lakshmi Y

abstract
Groundwater is the most important natural resource in arid and semiarid areas. Due to human and industrial activities the quality of ground water is deteriorating often may not suitable for drinking and crop production as well. Thus the quality assessment is essential to maintain the soil and crop productivity at higher levels. The assessment of ground water quality was carried out in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district. A total of 215 samples were collected and GPS locations of sampling points were recorded. The water samples were analyzed for various physico-chemical and chemical properties viz., pH, EC, Na⁺ and CO₃^-2, HCO₃^-. The pH, EC, SAR and RSC in groundwater ranged from 1.73-8.84,0.02-4.12 (dS m^-1), 0.3-14.29 (mmol L^-1), and -47.2-38.6 (meq L^-1), respectively. The concentration of cations viz., Ca⁺²+Mg⁺² and Na⁺ varied from 2.2-50.8 meq L^-1, 0.8-22 meq L^-1 with mean values of 12.79,6.17 me L^-1, respectively. Concentration of anions viz., CO₃^-2, HCO₃^-, Cl^- and SO₄^-2 varied from 0-2.4,0.2-14.6,0.8-31.2 and 0.02-1.82 meq L^-1 with average values of 0.15, 8.88, 7.35 and 0.29 me L^-1, respectively. The relative abundance of ions for most of the water samples were Ca⁺²+Mg⁺² > Na⁺ for cations and HCO₃^- > Cl^- > SO₄^-2 > CO₃^-2 for anions. The study revealed that 97.7% samples were in excellent category for irrigation (<10 SAR) and 2.33% (10-18 SAR) samples are good for irrigation. Based on the RSC, about 6.51% of water samples were in safe category while 20.5% samples are not suitable for irrigation.