Current World Environment

Introduction

Water is a one of the most important renewable natural resources. Approximately 71% of the earth’^s surface is covered with water. Fresh water is found as underground water in large reservoirs surrounded by rock called aquifers. This ground water has long been considered is one of the purest forms of water available in nature to meet the overall demand of rural and semi urban people.¹ In India most of the population is dependent on ground water as it is the only source of drinking water supply.² The quality of ground water is the resultant of all the processes and reaction that  act on the water from the moment it condensed in the atmosphere to the time it is discharged by a well as spring and varies from place to place and with the depth of the  water table.³

The groundwater is believed to comparatively cleaner and free from  pollution than surface water.² But during last decade, this is observed that ground water get polluted drastically because of increased human activities.^4-7 Consequently number of cases of water born diseases has been seen which a cause of health hazards.^8-11 Therefore monitoring the quality of water is one of the essential issues of drinking water management.¹² 

Considering the above aspects an attempt has been made under the present study to assess the physic-chemical properties of ground water in Saltaua Gopalpur block of  Basti  district.

Material and Methods

Study Site

Saltaua Gopalpur block is situated in the north part of the  district Basti. It is 15 km. away from the district head quarter . It has a geographical area of 216.90 km², it is bounded by 26.81 ^oN latitude an 82.76 ^oE longitude, The normal annual rain fall varies from1050 mm to 1200 mm.

Sample Collection

A total 10 samples from different place which were minimum 2-3 km between one and another location was maintained in order to carry out a broad study on the quality of water in this area. The sample collection area has been assigned as sample points.

The sample was collected in plastic bottles which one cleaned with acid water, followed by rinsing twice with distilled water. The analysis of water was done by using Himedia water testing kit.

Table 1: Sampling places in the Saltaua Gopalpur Block. Click here to View table

Result and Discussion 

The examined various physico-chemical parameters showed considerable variations in different samples. The observations are depicted in table-2.The findings and their comparison with WHO¹³ and BIS¹⁴ health based drinking guidlines are Presented in table3. The data revealed a considerable variation in the water samples with respect to their chemical composition.

pH is affected not only by the reaction of carbon dioxide but also by organic and inorganic solute present in water. Any alteration in water pH is accompanied  by the change in other physico-chemical parameters .¹⁵ pH Varies from 7.0to 7.5. This shows that all samples are existed within the minimum and maximum tolerable limit of WHO and BIS. The water sample were found to be slightly basic in nature.^16-18 

The turbidity varies from 5-6 NTU. This shows that most of the samples are existed within Permissible limit of  WHO & BIS.

Chloride varies from 10-220 mg/lit. All the water samples are under the permissible limits as of WHO.^19-20 Chloride is not harmful to human at low concentration but could alter the taste of water at concentration above 250mg/lit.²¹ 

Hardness is very important in decreasing the toxic effect of poisonous element.²² Hardness is measured in terms of total hardness and calcium hardness. Total hardness varies form 200-750 mg/lit mostly exceeds the maximum permissible limits of WHO.^22-25 Hardness although has no health effects it can make water unsuitable for domestic and industrial use.¹ 
 

Table 2: Physico-Chemical quality of ground water of Saltaua Gopalpur Block. Click here to View table

Nitrate varies from 10-95 mg/lit. Although only two samples S1 and S7 exceeds the permissible limit and shows high concentration.²⁰ Nitrate Indicates the  pollution in ground water due to agricultural activities, sewage percolation beneath the surface.^22,26,27 Presence of nitrate in water indicates the final stage of mineralization.²⁸

The major natural resource of fluoride is amphiboles, apatite, fluorite and mica. It’s concentration in natural waters generally should not exceed 10mg/lit.¹ The factor responsible for ground water contamination with fluoride are geological factors such as weathering of minerals, rock dissolution and decomposition Containing fluoride over a long period of time resulting in the leaching it into ground water.⁴ An anthropogenic factor such as industrial proces liberates higher concentration of fluoride into atmosphere.

The concentration of fluoride in the studied Water samples varies from 0.3 to 1.0mg/lit.²⁰ High fluoride concentration causes dental fluorosis and more skeletal fluorosis²⁹ whereas the low concentration or absence of fluoride in drinking water results in dental caries in children particularly when the fluoride concentration is less than 0.5 mg/lit .³⁰ 
 

Table 3: Comparison of water with drinking water quality Standards. Click here to View table

The values of iron in study area varies from 0.3 to 1.0 mg/lit. Which are higher than the tolerable value except sample S6. This may be due to soil origin and age old iron pipes used in the area.^16,31 The storage of iron causes a diseases called “anaemia” and prolonged consumption of drinking water with high concentration of iron may be lead to liver diseases called as haemosiderosis.

The free chlorine was found to be absent in all the samples.

Conclusion

The analysis of the physico-chemical parameters of ground water from ten different locations in Saltaua Gopalpur block shows that the pH, turbidity, chloride and fluoride were within permissible limit. Highly exceeded value of total hardness, nitrate and iron were reported at some locations of study area. The observed standard deviation for the parameters  shows that the deviation in the total hardness (162.02), chloride (63.42) and nitrate (32.06) are of  moderately high range. From this it is concluded that various parameter concentration are varying highly in different location of  Saltaua  Gopalpur block.  

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Dr. Ram Prasad Ex-vice chancellor, Barkatullah University, Bhopal (M.P.), for providing academic inputs. Also thankful to Dr. T.A. Qureshi, (Ex.H.O.D) Deptt. Of Applied Aquaculture, Barkatullah, University, Bhopal,M.P. and to Prof. V.B. Upadhayay, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur (U.P. ), for their valuable suggestions.

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