An Assessment of Ground Water Quality Index in Mandya City, Karnataka

摘要

Water is one of our most precious resources. Lack of water is one of the principal causes of delayed development. Groundwater is subsurface water that fills voids in soils and permeable geological formations. As population grows & usage of water increases, the pressure on the groundwater resources also increases. In many areas of the world, ground water is now being over- abstracted massively & hence the result is falling water levels and declining well yields, more expensive supplies, land subsidence, the intrusion of saltwater into fresh water supplies and ecological damage such as drying out of wetlands. Most planning guides for groundwater emphasize the assessment of the resource through data collection& aquifer analysis. In recent years, the quality of groundwater has also been recognized as a very important issue, due to its suitability for various uses. Water quality index (WQI) is one of the most effective tools to monitor the surface as well as ground water pollution and can be used efficiently in the implementation of water quality upgrading programmes. WQI provides information on the rating scale from zero to hundred. Higher value of WQI indicates better quality of water and lower value shows poor water quality. The study of indices will often give some indication about hydro- geologic or mineralogical conditions in the aquifers which will be useful in identifying the location of sources for various uses such as drinking, industrial etc. The present work aims at conduction of physico-chemical analysis of groundwater samples & to determine the water quality index of the study area and to identify the suitability for domestic use.