Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Assessing groundwater quality in northern Bangladesh for irrigation, drinking and industrial uses

Author(s):

Mohammad Jahidul Islam ¹, Mohammad Abdul Hakim ^{1, 2}*, Mohamed Hanafi Musa ², Abul Kalam Mohammad Mosharrof Hossain ³, Mohammad Tarek Nasirullah ¹, Kh Nurul Islam ⁴ 

Recieved Date: 2014-01-06, Accepted Date: 2014-03-22

Abstract:

A research was conducted to assess the quality of groundwater sources as irrigation, drinking and industrial purposes. Fifty groundwater samples were analysed for pH, EC, dominant cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Zn²⁺, Cu²⁺, Mn²⁺, Fe³⁺ and As³⁺) and  anions  (CO₃^2-, HCO₃^-, NO₃^-, SO₄^2- and Cl^-) and TDS. In addition, to classify water quality as excellent, good suitable, SAR, SSP and RSC were calculated following standard equations. Ratios of major cations and anions of water samples suggest the predominance of Ca- and Mg-containing minerals over Na-containing minerals. Arsenic concentrations ranged from trace to 0.048 mg/L and were below the permissible limit (>0.05 mg/L). According to the concentrations of cation and anion constitutes as well as TDS and SAR values, all samples were classed as ‘freshwater’ and ‘excellent’ categories. The SSP of most waters was under ‘excellent’ and ‘good’ classes. Based on As³⁺, Zn²⁺, Mn²⁺, Fe³⁺, SO₄^2-, NO₃^- and Cl^- all groundwater samples were within the ‘safe’ limit for drinking but unsuitable for some industries for specific ions. Long-term intensive use of groundwater and intensification of human activities in the study region might lead to future increased concentrations of a number of dissolved constituents in groundwater and deteriorate the quality of water for irrigation, drinking and industrial uses.

Keywords:

Groundwater, irrigation, drinking water quality, suitability class, Bangladesh

---

Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2014
Volume: 12
Issue: 2
Category: Environment
Pages: 1205-1212

---

Full text for Subscribers

---

Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.

---

Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

---

Share this article :