Investigation of Groundwater Quality and Its Suitability for Drinking and Agricultural Use in the South Central Part of the Coastal Region in Bangladesh

Abstract

To examine the groundwater quality a total of 120 groundwater samples were collected from two southern districts; Barguna (27 points) and Patuakali (33 points) of Bangladesh in two seasons viz., pre-monsoon (60 samples) and post-monsoon (60 samples) in 2012. A comprehensive analysis has been conducted to explore the groundwater hydrochemistry and effects of major ions on the suitability for potable water and agricultural uses. Geochemical analyses have clearly shown that the seasonal effect does change the order of abundance of major ions in the groundwater, while principal component analysis confirmed the reasons of extreme salinity and hardness. Piper diagram showed that the predominant hydrochemical facies for the groundwater were Na ? -Cl --SO 4 2-and Na ? -K ? -HCO 3 -types. The chloroalkaline index confirmed that the ion exchange was governed mainly in water phase. Equiline diagram explained the relationship among the alkali with total cations and anions where cations were more dominant than anions at 1:1 ratio. The Gibb's diagram illustrated the chemical composition of water mainly influenced by precipitation from the water sources. The molar ratio Cl -/Ranions and Na ? /Na ? ?Cl -indicated that the groundwater of the study area was affected by seawater intrusion. In addition to unsuitable salinity ([5000 ls/cm), Kelly's ratio, total hardness, sodium absorption ratio, residual Sodium carbonate, and Na % clearly indicated that the groundwater in the study area were not suitable for drinking, irrigation, and domestic uses. Moreover, the spatial distribution maps were drawn to observe the spatial extent of EC, TDS, SAR, and SSP using IDW technique. Thus, considering all the above findings this area needs special attention to ensure the supply of potable water and to maintain sustainable agricultural activities.

Hydrogeochemical investigation of groundwater in shallow coastal aquifer of Khulna District, Bangladesh

“…The salinity of current study originates from this saline aquifer pocket with some recent intrusion. Similar observation was previously made by Sikdar et al (2001), Rahman et al (2011) and Islam et al (2016a, b). Due to lack of isotopic investigation it is hurdle to delineate the actual origin of groundwater salinity in study area.…”

“…To evaluate the water quality for irrigation purpose, the sodium or alkali hazard expressed by sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) is widely used Islam et al 2016a, b). If water sample is high in Na ?…”

“…The over dependence on groundwater for drinking, agricultural and industrial sector and different climatic and natural phenomenon causes coastal groundwater contamination (Srinivas et al 2015). Besides, different geochemical processes in groundwater governing the chemical characteristics of groundwater, is well documented in many parts of the world by many authors i.e., Montety et al (2008), Jalali (2009), Manjusree et al (2009), Thilagavathi et al (2012, Sivasubramanian et al (2013), Nagaraju et al (2014), Kumar et al (2015), Islam et al (2016a, b) and Balaji et al (2016). Geochemical studies of groundwater provide a better understanding of water quality and possible changes .…”

Impacts of Salinity Intrusion in Community Health: A Review of Experiences on Drinking Water Sodium from Coastal Areas of Bangladesh

“…Molar proportion of the Cl − /Σ(anions) and Na⁺/Na + +Cl − specified that the groundwater in the south-central part of Bangladesh, such as the Barguna and Patuakhali districts, was affected by the intrusion of seawater. The groundwater of Barguna and Patuakhali was clearly dominated by the cations and anions of Na + , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Cl − , and HCO 3 − in both wet and dry monsoon seasons [34]. While the maximum sodium intake according to WHO guideline 2011 [35] is 200 mg/L, the Na + concentrations in the groundwater were reported to be 863 mg/L and 825 mg/L in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively [36].…”

Spatio-temporal assessment and trend analysis of surface water salinity in the coastal region of Bangladesh

“…However, due to seasonal drying up of the rivers, similar points that were covered in the wet-monsoon season could not be covered in the dry-monsoon season due to inaccessibility by waterways. The chemical analysis was carried out following the procedure as described by Islam et al (2016). The samples were collected followed by filtering through 0.45 µm membranes.…”