Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Assessment of ground water quality for drinking purpose, District Nainital, Uttarakhand, India

  • Published:
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ground water quality of District Nainital (Uttarakhand, India) has been assessed to see the suitability of ground water for drinking and irrigation applications. This is a two-part series paper and this paper examines the suitability of ground water including spring water for drinking purposes. Forty ground water samples (including 28 spring samples) were collected during pre- and post-monsoon seasons and analyzed for various water quality constituents. The hydrochemical and bacteriological data was analyzed with reference to BIS and WHO standards and their hydrochemical facies were determined. The concentration of total dissolved solids exceeds the desirable limit of 500 mg/L in about 10% of the samples, alkalinity values exceed the desirable limit of 200 mg/L in about 30% of the samples, and total hardness values exceed the desirable limit of 300 mg/L in 15% of the samples. However, no sample crosses the maximum permissible limit for TDS, alkalinity, hardness, calcium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, and fluoride. The concentration of chloride, sulfate, nitrate, and fluoride are well within the desirable limit at all the locations. The bacteriological analysis of the samples does not show any sign of bacterial contamination in hand pump and tube-well water samples. However, in the case of spring water samples, six samples exceed the permissible limit of ten coliforms per 100 ml of sample. It is recommended that water drawn from such sources should be properly disinfected before being used for drinking and other domestic applications. Among the metal ions, the concentration of iron and lead exceeds the permissible limit at one location whereas the concentration of nickel exceeds the permissible limit in 60 and 32.5% of the samples during pre- and post-monsoon seasons, respectively. The grouping of samples according to their hydrochemical facies indicates that majority of the samples fall in Ca–Mg–HCO3 hydrochemical facies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • APHA (1992). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Waste Waters, American Public Health Association, 18th Edition, Washington, DC.

  • BIS (1991). Specifications for Drinking Water, IS:10500: 1991, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.

  • Chadha, D. K. (1999). A proposed new diagram for geochemical classification of natural waters and interpretation of chemical data. Hydrogeology Journal, 7(5), 431–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, S., Metha, B. C., Das, P. K., Srivastava, S. K., & Samanth, S. K. (1998). Source of high fluoride in ground water of Anugul, Dhenkenal District, Orrissa. Pollution Research, 17(4), 385–392.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dhindsa, S. S., Bheel, P., & Musturia, Y. (2004). Hydrochemical study of ground water quality variation in Tonk District, Rajasthan. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 8(1), 129–136.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garode, A. M., Nanoty, V. D., & Bodhankar, M. G. (1998). Bacteriological status of drinking water in and around Chikhli Town of Buldana District, Maharashtra. Pollution Research, 17(3), 293–294.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K. (2002). Arsenic contamination in ground water: Indian scenario. Indian Journal of Environmental Health, 44(3), 238–243.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K. (2004a). Ground water quality of District Dehradun, Uttaranchal. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 8(2), 475–484.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K. (2004b). Irrigation water quality in District Dehradun, Uttaranchal. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 8(2), 319–326.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K. (2004c). Trace element contamination in ground water of District Dehradun, Uttaranchal. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 8(3), 597–605.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., & Bhatia, K. K. S. (1988). Physico-chemical analysis of water and wastewater, user’s manual, UM-26, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India.

  • Jain, C. K., Bhatia, K. K. S., & Kumar, V. (2000a). Ground water quality in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh. Indian Journal of Environmental Health, 42(4), 151–158.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., Bhatia, K. K. S., & Kumar, S. R. (2000b). Ground water contamination in Greater Guwahati, Assam. Indian Journal of Environmental Protection, 20(9), 641–648.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., Sharma, M. K., Bhatia, K. K. S., & Seth, S. M. (2000c). Ground water pollution—Endemic of fluorosis. Pollution Research, 19(4), 505–509.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., Bhatia, K. K. S., Kumar, C. P., & Purandara, B. K. (2003a). Ground water quality in Malprabha sub-basin, Karnataka. Indian Journal of Environmental Protection, 23(3), 321–329.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., Kumar, C. P., & Sharma, M. K. (2003b). Ground water quality in Ghataprabha Command Area, Karnataka. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 7(2), 251–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., Kumar, C. P., & Sharma, M. K. (2003c). Irrigation water quality in Ghataprabha Command Area, Karnataka. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 7(2), 409–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jain, C. K., Kumar, S., & Rao, Y. R. S. (2004). Trace element contamination in a coastal aquifer of Andhra Pradesh. Pollution Research, 23(1), 13–23.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kapley, R. D., Patode, H. S., & Panaskar, D. B. (1998). Ground water quality in an industrial area of Tuppa, Nanded, Maharashtra. Pollution Research, 17(3), 251–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khurshid, S., Zaheeruddin, & Shbeer, M. U. (1997). Degradation of water quality due to heavy metal pollution in Faridabad District, Haryana, India. Pollution Research, 16(1), 41–43.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meenakumari, H. R., & Hosmani, S. P. (2003). Physico-chemical and biological quality of ground water in Mysore City, Karnataka. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 7(1), 79–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naidu, M. N., Srinivas, N., & Prasada Roa, P. V. (1998). Urban water quality in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Indian Journal of Environmental Protection, 18(4), 273–277.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Piper, A. M. (1944). A graphical procedure in the geochemical interpretation of water analysis. Transactions—American Geophysical Union, 25, 914–923.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramasubramanian, V., Jeyaprakash, R., Ruby Mallika, D. A., Ramasubbu, R., & Mariappan, V. (2004). Analysis of physico-chemical characteristics of ground water quality and quality index in and around Sivakasi Town. Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 8(1), 171–176.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sohani, D., Pande, S., & Srivastava, V. S. (2001). Ground water quality at Tribal Town: Nandurbar (Maharashtra). Indian Journal of Environment and Ecoplanning, 5(2), 475–479.

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (1996). Guidelines for drinking water, Vol. 2, Recommendations. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox, L. V. (1955). Classification and use of irrigation water, U.S. Dept. of Agr. Circular 969, Washington, D.C., 19 p.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. K. Jain.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jain, C.K., Bandyopadhyay, A. & Bhadra, A. Assessment of ground water quality for drinking purpose, District Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. Environ Monit Assess 166, 663–676 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-009-1031-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-009-1031-5

Keywords