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Hydro-chemical characterization and geospatial analysis of groundwater for drinking and agricultural usage in Nashik district in Maharashtra, India

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Abstract

Groundwater qualities in Nashik District of Maharashtra were analyzed using hydro-geochemical characterization and geospatial techniques for sixty-one (n = 61) representative samples. GIS-based WQI was computed for planning and monitoring the groundwater qualities in the study region. Piper trilinear and Gibbs diagram were plotted to determine the variation in hydro-geochemical facies and to understand the functional sources of chemical constituents. The analytical results cleared that the nature of the groundwater is highly alkaline. Majority of the samples were within the desirable and maximum permissible limits as decided by Bureau of Indian Standards for each parameter. Piper diagram shows about 39.34% samples belong to Ca2+–Mg2+–Cl−–\({\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - }\) type, signifying permanent hardness and 57.37% samples belong to Ca2+–Mg2+–\({\text{HCO}}_{3}^{ - }\) type suggesting temporary hardness. Only 3.25% samples fall under Na+–K+–Cl−–\({\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - }\) type. Alkaline earth exceeds alkalis in 96.72% samples of the groundwater. The WQI suggests that 59% sites have excellent and good quality water; and about 41% sites characterized by poor quality water, which are unsuitable for drinking purposes. WQI values for TDS, TH, Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, Cl−, K+, \({\text{NO}}_{3}^{ - }\) and \({\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - }\) are more than the permissible limits. Hierarchical cluster analysis corroborates the spatial analysis results of WQI and proved statistically. The present investigation indicates significant dominance of agriculture and rock weathering that influence the groundwater chemistry in Nashik district.

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Acknowledgements

The first author would like to express his sincere gratitude toward The Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, for funding and supporting the present major research project under IMPRESS (IMPRESS/P783/2018-19/ICSSR] for research grants. The authors would also like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their meticulous comments and suggestions which greatly helped us to improve this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geography, K.V.N. Naik Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha’s Arts, Commerce and Science College Nashik, Nashik, Maharashtra, 422002, India

    Rajendra B. Zolekar & Santosh A. Bhailume

  2. Department of Geography, Vidya Pratishthan’s Arts, Science and Commerce College, Baramati, 413 133, India

    Rahul S. Todmal

  3. Department of Geography, Agasti Arts, Commerce and Science College Akole, Akole, 422601, India

    Vijay S. Bhagat

  4. Department of Geography, Shri Shiv Chhatrapati College, Junnar, Junnar, 410 502, India

    Mahendra S. Korade

  5. Department of Geography, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India

    Sumit Das

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Zolekar, R.B., Todmal, R.S., Bhagat, V.S. et al. Hydro-chemical characterization and geospatial analysis of groundwater for drinking and agricultural usage in Nashik district in Maharashtra, India. Environ Dev Sustain 23, 4433–4452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-020-00782-2

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