International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 341

Volume 2 Issue 9, December 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

Groundwater Quality Index of Bijapur City, Karnataka, India

Shashikanth R. Mise *, Muhammadsaifaadil R. Attar **
*Professor, Civil Engineering Department P.D.A. College of Engineering Gulbarga-585102
** PG Student of Environmental Engineering P.D.A. College of Engineering Gulbarga-585102

ABSTRACT
The present work is aimed at assessing the groundwater
quality characteristics of Bijapur city. The groundwater
samples of all the 35 wards were collected and subjected
to Physico-chemical analysis. A simple comprehensive
weighted arithmetic method has been used for
calculating water quality index. The water quality index
of the samples is found out to be 72.60. This method is
useful tool in many ways in the field of water quality
management.

city is the administrative head quarters of the district.

The district is situated in northern Karnataka. It is
located at 1683N 7570E. It has an average elevation
of 606 meters covering an area of 97.5 km2. Bijapur has
a population of 3,27,427 and has 35 wards, figure 1(c)
shows the city map which is the study area.

Keywords - Groundwater, Water Quality Index (WQI),

Water Quality Standards.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Groundwater is used for Domestic, Industrial water

supply and Irrigation all over the world. In the last few
decades, there has been a tremendous increase in the
demand for fresh water due to rapid growth of
population and the accelerated pace of industrialization.
Human health is threatened by unsanitary conditions
through open drain carrying and disposing wastewater
into natural water bodies. Rapid urbanization, especially
in developing countries like India, has affected the
availability and quality of groundwater due to its
overexploitation and improper waste disposal, especially
in urban areas. According to WHO organization, about
80% of all the diseases in human beings are caused by
water. Once the groundwater is contaminated, its quality
cannot be restored back easily. To communicate
information on the quality of water to the concerned
citizens and policy makers, analysis of water is

Figure 1(a) Karnataka State Map

utmost important. It, thus, becomes an important

factor for the assessment and management of
groundwater. The objective of the present work is to
discuss the suitability of groundwater for human
consumption based on computed Water Quality Index
(WQI).

II.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

STUDY AREA: Bijapur district is one of the 30

districts of Karnataka State in southern India. Bijapur
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Figure 1 (b) Bijapur District Map

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 342

Volume 2 Issue 9, December 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

Where
Qn= Quality rating for the nth water quality
parameter
Vn= Estimated value of the nth parameter at a
given sampling point
Sn= Standard permissible value of nth parameter
Vin=Ideal value of nth parameter in pure
water.(i.e.,0 for all other parameters except the
parameter pH and dissolved oxygen 7.0 and 14.6 mg/L
respectively).
The overall water quality index was calculated by
aggregating the quality rating with the unit weight.

Figure 1(c) Bijapur City Map

SAMPLING
The samples were collected from Aug 2 2014 to Oct. 28
2014 covering rainy and winter seasons. From all the 35
wards grab samples are collected covering the entire city
with a frequency of 6 times after a gap of every 15 days.
Two liters of water samples are collected from each
sampling point and immediately transported to the
laboratory for analysis. All the samples were tested in
the laboratory to determine physicochemical parameters
such as Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Chloride,
Alkalinity, Dissolved Oxygen(D.O.), pH, Total
Hardness(TH),Calcium(Ca+2),Magnesium(Mg+2)Nitrate
(NO3-), Sulphate(SO4-), Sodium (Na+)and Potassium
(K+). The methods adopted for the determination of the
above parameters are as shown in Table 1.The
instruments used for analysis are UV visible
Spectrophotometer, Flame photometer, pH meter and
TDS analyzer.

III.

RESULTS AND DISCSSION

Water Quality Index

A water quality index provides a single number (like a
grade) that expresses overall water quality at a certain
location and time based on several water quality
parameters. The objective of an index is to turn complex
water quality data into information that is
understandable and useable by the public.
According to the concept of indices to represent
gradation in water quality was first proposed by
Horton(1965). The water quality index has been
calculated by standards of drinking water quality
recommended by the World Health Organization
(WHO). Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Indian
council for medical research (ICMR). The weighted
arithmetic index method has been used for calculation of
WQI of groundwater of Bijapur City. Further quality
rating or sub index (Qn) is calculated by the following
expression.

WQI=QnWn/Wn.(2)
Table 1 shows the water quality index WQI
Table 1: Water Quality Index (W.Q.I.) and status of
water quality (Chatterji and Raziuddin 2002)
Water
Grade
Water Quality
Quality
Status
Index Level
0-25
A
Excellent water
quality
26-50
B
Good water
quality
51-75
C
Poor water
quality
76-100
D
Very poor water
quality
>100
E
Unsuitable for
drinking
Table 2: Drinking Water standards recommending
agencies and unit weight (All values except pH are in
mg/L.)
Parameters

Standards

pH

6.5 - 8.5

Total
Alkalinity
Total
Hardness
T.D.S

120

Calcium

75

Qn=100(Vn-Vin)/(Sn-Vin)(1)
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300
500

Recomm
-ended
Agency
ICMR /
BIS
ICMR

Unit
Weight

ICMR /
BIS
ICMR /
BIS
ICMR /
BIS

0.0062

0.2190
0.0155

0.0037
0.025

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Technology (IJAERT) 343

Volume 2 Issue 9, December 2014, ISSN No.: 2348 8190

Table 2 (Contd.)
Parameters

Standards

Magnesium

30

Chloride

250

Nitrate

45

Sulphate

150

Dissolved
Oxygen

5.0

CONCLUSION

Recomm
-ended
Agency
ICMR /
BIS
ICMR
ICMR /
BIS
ICMR /
BIS
ICMR /
BIS

The present Study clearly depicts that Total Hardness,

magnesium and Total Dissolved Solids are exceeding
the permissible standards. The water quality index of the
samples is found out to be 72.60 which lies in C grade
(Table 1) poor quality of water. Application of water
quality index WQI in this study has been found to be
useful in assessing overall quality of water. This method
is helpful to understand the quality water and also being
useful tool in many ways in the field of water quality
management.

Unit
Weight
0.062
0.0074
0.0413
0.0124

REFERENCES

0..723

Table 3: Water Quality Index of the groundwater of

Bijapur City

[1] Shashikanth R. Mise B.B.Kori & V.M.Devappa,

Water Quality Index of Karanja River in Bidar District,
Karnataka, India. International Journal of Environment
and Development,(July-December 2011)

Para
meter
s

Obser
ved
Value
s

Stand
ard
Value
s (Sn)

Unit
Weigh
t
(Wn)

Qualit
y
Ratin
g (Qn)

WnQ
n

[2] Water quality index of some Indian rivers by Rama

Karan Singh et.al., Indian Journal of Env. Health (1996)

pH

7.70

0.219

46.87

10.26

TH

438.81

6.58.5
300

0.0062

146.27

0.91

[3] Water quality and Pollution status of Chalakudy

River at Kathikudam, Kerela. By Riney Joseph.et al.,
Nature Environment and Pollution Technology (2010)

Ca+2

85.00

75

0.025

113.33

2.83

Mg+2

354.70

30

0.061

118.20

7.21

SO4-2

36.37

150

0.0124

24.24

0.30

D.O

6.97

0.3723

79.47

29.59

NO3-

9.73

45

0.0412

21.61

0.89

Chlori
de

226.81

250

0.0074

90.73

0.67

TDS

1021.3
0

500

0.0037

204.26

0.76

Alkali
nity

156.93

120

0.0155

130.78

2.03

Wn=0.76

Qn=975.75

[4] Assessment of water quality fresh water resources

Along the Coastal Andhra Pradesh. By Ch. Satyanarayan
et al., Nature Environment and Pollution Technology
(2010)
[5] Correlation characteristics of the Limnologocal
Properties of Ebonyi River, Nigeria. By E.F. Ude et al.,
Eco. Env. Cons.(2009)

WnQn=55.4

Water Quality Index

WQI=WnQn/Wn=72.60

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