Assessment of groundwater quality in a suburban area of Chennai city, India

eng Ansari Education and Research Society Journal of Ultra Scientist of Physical Sciences April 2009 21 1 157 166 jusps-B 1090 article Assessment of groundwater quality in a suburban area of Chennai city, India Ravichandran K. 1 Jayaprakash M. 2 Scientist =B. Central Ground Water Board, Rajaji Bhavan, Bedant Nagar, Chennai - 600 090 (INDIA) St. Lecturer, Department of Applied Geology, University of Madras, Chennai INDIA) Hydrochemical investigations were carried out in and around Ambattur industrial area, Tamilnadu, India to assess the chemical composition of groundwater and its quality for drinking purpose. A total of 54 representative groundwater samples were collected from different wells to monitor the water chemistry of various ions. The type of water that predominated in the study area was assessed based on hydrochemical facies. Interpretation of analytical data shows that Na-Cl, Ca-Cl and mixed are the dominant hydrochemical facies in the study area. Alkali metals (Na+, K+ ) and strong acids (Cl- , SO42-) are dominating over alkaline earths (Ca2+, Mg2+) and weak acids (HCO3-, CO32-). The mean concentration of the cations is in the order of Na+> Ca2+> Mg2+ >K+, while that for anions is Cl- > HCO3- >SO42-> NO3-. Statistical analyses indicate the highest positive correlation between EC and Cl with correlation coefficient of 0.97. Progressive reduction in correlation coefficient for EC with Na, TH and Mg are observed as 0.87, 0.84 and 0.77 respectively. Groundwater in the study area is generally hard, fresh to brackish and low in alkaline nature. The unsuitability of groundwater for drinking was identified in few places due to high total hardness and TDS. Fluoride is within permissible limit for human consumption as per international standards.   https://ultraphysicalsciences.org/paper/1090/ Hydrochemistry. Drinking water quality Ambattur India