Title: Seasonal variation and spatial distribution of groundwater pollutants in east coastal region from Bamban to Thiruvanmiyur of Tamil Nadu, India

Authors: P. Umarani; A. Ramu; A. Babu Ponnusami; M. Dhanasekarapandian

Addresses: Sree Sowdambika College of Engineering, Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar District, Chettikurichi, Tamil Nadu 626134, India ' Department of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India ' School of Chemical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India ' Department of Civil Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, India

Abstract: The present investigation is focused on seasonal variation and spatial distribution of the groundwater pollutants in the study area during post monsoon (January), summer (May), pre monsoon (August) and monsoon seasons (November). Geologically, the study area comprises quaternary alluvium made up clay, silt and sandstone deposits. Water quality parameters (WQPs) such as pH, EC, TDS, TA, total hardness, chloride, sulphate, bicarbonate, carbonate, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, nitrate were chosen. GIS technique was used to find out the spatial distribution of the soluble pollutants. The WQPs were compared with the standard guidelines values as recommended by the WHO for drinking and public health. The abundance of major ions groundwater was found in the following order: Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+ and Cl > HCO 3 > NO 3 > SO 24 > F − during all seasons. The strong positive correlation between sodium and chloride was observed high, confirming the influence of seawater intrusion into the groundwater aquifer. Sampling location (Kottaipattinam) showed abnormal EC, TDS during summer and pre monsoon seasons. In these places, the groundwater aquifers were found to be contaminated which may be occurred from sewage effluents and excess use of fertilisers and pesticides for agriculture.

Keywords: groundwater; seasonal variation; GIS; correlation; linear regression; east coast; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2020.104346

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2020 Vol.25 No.1, pp.32 - 57

Accepted: 25 Dec 2018
Published online: 06 Jan 2020 *

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