Groundwater quality and chemical characteristics of Bekal watershed, Kasaragod district, Kerala, India

Evaluation of the groundwater quality for domestic and agricultural purposes is an essential step in any stage of development of groundwater resources. Hydrogeochemistry is the major tool to assess the suitability of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. A detailed study has been carried out to get a better understanding of the quality and chemical characteristics of the groundwater resources of Bekal river basin, Kasaragod district, Kerala. Groundwater is the major source for domestic and agricultural activity in this area. Groundwater samples were collected from 16 open wells during January 2020. It is found that the acidic trend of groundwater is the major quality problem in the study area. Low pH can cause several gastrointestinal disorders in the users. The interaction of the lateritic aquifer with the circulating groundwater may be the reason for the lower pH values. The groundwater facies analysis plotted using Hill–Piper diagram showed that the water samples were dominated by alkalies and fall in sodium chloride type. Evaluating the obtained result and comparing it with the permissible standard values for sodium adsorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate and sodium percentage revealed that majority of the samples were suitable for irrigation purposes. This study also dealt with the interpretation of hydrogeochemical data using correlation and R-mode factor analyses.