Hydrogeochemical Evaluation of Groundwater for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes in the Upper Piedmont Area of Haridwar, India

This work presents the suitability of groundwater qualityfor drinking and irrigation purposes of Haridwar, India. In this study, the suitability of groundwater qualityfor the purposeof drinking and irrigation was evaluated in the upper piedmont areaof Haridwar, India. In this regard, inverse distance-weighted interpolation,water quality index (WQI), principal component analysis (PCA), pipertrilinear diagram (PTD) analysis, and sodium absorption ratio (SAR)methods were used to assess the geospatial variation of groundwaterquality. The results showed that groundwater was partially affectedby rapid industrialization and urbanization practices. The groundwaterquality revealed the presence of different cations and anions in thefollowing order: Ca2+ > Na+ > Mg2+ > K+ and HCO3 (-) > NO3 (-) > SO4 (2-) >Cl- > SiO2 (-) >F-. WQI showed an excellent range (29.94-45.17)for sampling sites S1-S3 and S5-S8 and a good valuefor site S4 (99.2). In addition, PTD confirmed that the calcium andmagnesium bicarbonate type and mixed type for groundwater while PCArevealed that nitrate was dominant at site S4. In addition, the SARand Na contents were in excellent ranges, indicating their suitabilityfor irrigation purposes. The outcomes of this study indicated thatgeogenic and anthropogenic processes were the major reasons for thechange in groundwater quality of this region.