Hydrogeochemistry and quality assessment of surface and sub-surface water resources in Raniganj coalfield area, Damodar Valley, India

Pramod Kumar, Abhay Kumar Singh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mining and associated activities are largely accountable for contamination of water resources and creating the problem of safe water availability to a larger population residing in mining areas. Forty-nine water samples from the surface and sub-surface water resources were collected from the Raniganj coalfield area and analysed for water quality parameters using standard analytical methods. The analysis data were used to assess major ion chemistry, hydrogeochemical processes controlling water chemistry and water quality status for different uses. Results display that both groundwater and surface water of the area was alkaline in nature. HCO3>Cl>SO42->NO3>F abundance order was observed for anions in both groundwater and surface water resources. While for cations, Ca2+>Mg2+>Na+>K+ abundance order was noticed in groundwater and Ca2+>Na+>Mg2+>K+ in surface water sources. Ca-Mg-HCO3 and Ca-Mg-Cl were the dominant water types in the groundwater and Ca-Mg-HCO3, Ca-Mg-Cl and Na-HCO3-Cl in surface water resources. Gibbs, scatter plots and ionic ratios show that the chemical composition of the water resources in Raniganj coal mining region was mainly controlled by weathering of rock-forming minerals, sulphide oxidation and ion exchange processes. Concentration of F, Ca2+, Mg2+, SO42- and TH exceeded the drinking water acceptable limits established by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Computed water quality index (WQI) values suggest that 36% groundwater and 21% surface water samples were of poor water quality and requires appropriate treatment prior to utilisation. Furthermore, high values of salinity, residual sodium carbonate (RSC), Kelley index (KI), per cent sodium (%Na) and magnesium hazard (MH) at some sites limit the applicability of water for irrigation uses and demands appropriate water management strategy for the area.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8346-8369
Number of pages24
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry
Volume102
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

The authors thanks to the Director, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India for his support and encouragement, and permission to publish this paper. Support extended by laboratory colleagues is gratefully acknowledged. Our hearty thanks to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions to improve the manuscript.

Keywords

  • Mining impact
  • Raniganj coalfield
  • hydro-geochemistry
  • irrigation uses
  • water quality

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