International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)

ISSN (Online): 2319-7064

Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438

Assessment of Water Quality Parameters: A Review

M.J.Pawari1, S.M.Gavande2
1
P.G.Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, Anantrao pawar College of Engineering and Research, Parvati, Pune, Maharashtra, India
2
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Anantrao pawar College of Engineering and Research, Parvati, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Abstract: Water is one of the vital needs of all living beings. Humans need water in many daily activities like drinking, washing,
bathing, cooking etc. If the quality of water is not good then it becomes unfit for drinking and other activities. The quality of water
usually described according to its physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Hence it becomes necessary to find the suitability of
water for drinking, irrigation and Industry purpose. The groundwater quality based on Sodium percent, Sodium Absorption Ratio and
Residual Sodium Carbonate will help to identify the suitability of water for irrigation purpose. Rapid industrialization and use of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture are causing deterioration of water quality and depletion of aquatic biota. Due to use of
contaminated water, human population suffers from water borne diseases. Parameters that may be tested include temperature, pH,
turbidity, salinity, nitrates, TDS, Cations, Anions and phosphates.

Keywords: TDS (Total dissolved solids),Hydro chemical analysis, Cations, Anions.

1. Introduction movement of water. As the water moves through the

hydrological cycle, various chemical, physical and
Ground water, surface water (rivers, streams and ponds), biological processes change its original quality through
atmospheric water (rain-water, snow and hail) and springs reactions with soil, rock and organic matter. Natural
are the main source of water available to the people in processes and human activities cause the changes in
general. The qualities of these water bodies vary widely groundwater quality, directly or indirectly. According to
depending on the location and environmental factors. The WHO organization, about 80% of all the diseases in human
major source of ground water is precipitation that infiltrates beings are caused by water.
the ground and moves through the soil and pore spaces of
rocks. Other sources include water infiltrating from lakes 2. Literature Review
and streams, recharge ponds and waste-water treatment
system. As ground water moves through soil, sediment and The extensive literature review was carried out by referring
rocks, many impurities such as disease-causing micro- standard journals, reference books and conference
organisms are filtered out. Many water resources in proceedings. The major work carried out by different
developing countries are unhealthy because they contain researchers is summarized below. Dinesh Kumar Tank et.al
harmful physical, chemical and biological agents. To [01] study focused on the hydrochemistry of groundwater in
maintain a good health however, water should be safe to the Jaipur city to assess the quality of groundwater for
drink and meet the local standards and international determining its suitability for drinking and agricultural
standards to taste, odour and appearance. purposes. Groundwater samples were collected from eleven
stations of Jaipur city during monsoon season and were
To monitor the water resource and ensure sustainability, analyzed for physico-chemical parameters such as pH, EC,
national and international criteria and guidelines established TDS, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride,
for water quality standards are being used.(WHO-1993; sulphate, carbonate, bicarbonate, nitrate and fluoride.
2005).The chemistry of water is very dynamic, largely Comparison of the concentration of the chemical
controlled and modified by its medium of contact. Since the constituents with WHO (world health organization) drinking
chemistry of water directly hints the quality of water for water standards of 1983, the status of groundwater is better
various purposes, its monitoring and assessment gained for drinking purposes. The parameters like pH, sodium,
substantial importance in the present century. A tremendous potassium, carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride are within
increase in the population increased the stress on both permissible limit as per WHO but calcium, magnesium and
surface and the groundwater. It is believed at the beginning nitrate values exceeding the limit. The calculated values of
of the human civilization itself, groundwater was the most SAR, RSC and percentage sodium indicate that the water for
trusted form of drinking water because of the filtering effect irrigation uses is excellent to good quality. US Salinity
of the aquifer. However, in the present world drinking the diagram was used for evaluating the water quality for
water directly from the source without proper treatment is a irrigation which suggests that the majority of the
tough task. groundwater samples were good for irrigation.

The groundwater analysis for physical and chemical Vikas Tomar et.al [02] collected water samples from 67
properties is very important for Public health studies. These locations during pre and post-monsoon seasons of the year
studies are also main part of pollution studies in the 2011 from Karnal district, Haryana and were subjected to
environment. The groundwater contains dissolved solids analysis for chemical characteristics. The type of water that
possesses physical characteristics such as odor, taste and predominates in the study area was of sodium-calcium
temperature. The natural quality of groundwater depends bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate type during pre and
upon the physical environment, the origin, and the post-monsoon seasons of the year 2011 respectively and
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Paper ID: SUB156716 1427
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 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438
based on hydro-chemical facies.Based on chemical analysis, within range as per standard.TDS and Nitrate concentrations
the pre and post monsoon water samples were classified as in ground water of the study area exceed the permissible
per different standard irrigation criteria to study the limit at central location at katraj dairy near katraj,Pune.
chemical changes resulting due to rain and natural
recharge. It indicates that Na-Ca-HCO3 type water People can use the ground water for drinking and domestic
dominates during pre monsoon and Mg-HCO3 during post purpose in study area except in upper katraj nagar, Pune.
monsoon seasons of the year 2011. Priyanka Pandey et.al [06] he analysis the physiochemical
properties of ground water near munciple solid waste
Chidanand Patil et.al [03] carried out Physical, chemical, dumping sites in Jabalpur. All the samples were collected
bacteriological analysis of water samples from seven bore from bore well and hand pump near the MSW dumping sites
wells located around landfill site at Turmuri, Belgaum to and stored at 40C. The temp. of ground water sample ranged
ascertain the magnitude of dumpsite pollution on from 25.11 to 27.310C.The study is carried out on
groundwater quality. During the study period,7 bore wells parameters which are selected for testing are
were selected around the landfill area at a distance of 500, pH,TSS,TDS,COD,Nitrate,Cl,PO4-,F-etc.The parameters for
750 and 1000m.The parameters analyzed during the study both type water are within permissible limit for the use
period were pH, Total dissolved solids(TDS),Total except TDS,TSS,TS.
Hardness, Nitrate, Most Probable Number (MPN) and heavy
metal such as Lead using standard laboratory procedures. Adetunde L.A.et.al [07] have studied the area and
The pH ranged from 6.01 to 7.3 indicating acidic in nature in investigated Physicochemical and bacteriological qualities
the month of Feb and March, but in the month of April and of well water in the Ogbomoso North areas and South local
may all the wells within the levels. government areas of Oyo State, Nigeria. Water samples
were collected from 20 hand dug wells in the Ogbomoso
The pHs of water in wells within 500-700m are North and 20 hand-dug wells in the Ogbomoso South local
contaminated by the leachate of landfill. Concentrations of areas. The results showed that most of the physical and
Hardness, TDS, Nitrate ranged from 0 to 80 mg/L, 49 to 190 chemical parameters were within the acceptable guide line
mg/L, 4 to 79.89 mg/L respectively. The analysis was done limits of the WHO for drinking and domestic water. The
for four months from Feb to May. The results showed that well water is mostly soft, alkalinity ranged from 30- 390mg/l
within 500 m bore wells were contaminated by E-Coli and 40- 236mg/l for North and South respectively. pH
bacteria, also nitrate concentration is above the permissible ranged between 6.2-8.8 in both areas, SO42- and CL- ions
level described by WHO and Bureau of Indian Standards for concentrations fell within WHO set standards. Hardness
drinking water and pH were acidic in nature. The polluted ranged between 40- 504mg/l and 60 to 384mg/l for North
water requires certain levels of treatment before use. Public and South areas respectively. Well water in some areas is
enlightenment on waste sorting, adoption of clean moderately hard to very hard. Such microbial contamination
technology, using climate change mitigation strategies and posed a threat to well water quality and could lead to an
the use of sanitary landfill to prevent further contamination increase risk level of outbreak of water borne diseases in the
of ground water flow are recommended. two local government areas of Oyo State.

Sarala C.et.al [04] studied the groundwater quality Shimaa M. Ghoraba et.al [08] collected 120 ground water
parameters in the surrounding wells of Jawaharnagar, in samples from 29 Districts of Balochistan,Pakistan. The
upper Musi catchment area of Ranga Reddy district in various parameters are selected for the testing of samples.
Andhra Pradesh. The bore wells data was collected from the All samples were analyzed for pH, Calcium, Carbonate,
study area for two seasons i.e., post monsoon in December Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Chlorides, Sulphate and
2007and pre monsoon in June 2008. The groundwater is Nitrate, TDS and bicarbonate. The results revealed highly
acidic in nature and very hard. It is done by using Arc GIS variable hydrochemistry. The chloride is found to be most
software. The study reveals that the concentrations of major predominating. The groundwater in Balochistan has high
constituents are well within the permissible limits of IS- concentrations of fluoride, iron and nitrate in many districts.
10500-1994, except in few cases where total hardness and The pH part of the Durov diagram reveals that groundwater
fluoride concentrations are high. The fluoride conc. in study area is alkaline and electrical conductivity of most
exceeded the permissible limit. From the analysis it was of samples lies in the range of drinking water standards
observed that the groundwater is polluted in the entire study adapted in Pakistan. From the SAR and conductivity plot it
area. During last few years, the utilization of surface and was found that most of groundwater cannot be used on soil
groundwater for drinking, industrial and agricultural without restricted drainage and special requirement of
purposes has increased manifolds but consequently it is Management for salinity control.Comparision of data with
observed that the water is polluted and affecting the human WHO(2011) standards for drinking water indicate that the
health, soil nutrients,livestock,biomass and environment in groundwater in the most of study area are suitable for
certain areas. drinking purpose except some few places. The groundwater
recorded a wide range in TDS.
Priti Singh et.al [05] he assess and map the spatial
distribution of ground water quality of the Dhankawadi M.R.G. Sayyed et.al [09] assessed the groundwater from the
ward,pune by using GIS.APHA’s standard laboratory south-eastern part of Pune city for the seasonal variation in
procedure has been adopted to assess the quality of ground their quality parameters. Using Piper diagram the
water. The spatial distribution map of pH, Chlorides, hydrogeochemical facies were identified and the
Magnesium and Sulphate shows that, these parameters are groundwaters were classified with regards to the changes in
Volume 4 Issue 7, July 2015
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Paper ID: SUB156716 1428
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438
their major chemical compositions. Based on the permissible limit. The turbidity of water was 28 to 42 NTU
hydrogeochemical facies it has been found that the which is higher as per the APHA limit.
groundwater regime is severly deteriorated by the
anthropogenic activities. The predominant SO4 and Cl in the Mona A. Hagras et.al [11] to assess the quality of
wells of Fursungi and Mantarwadi areas have strong groundwater and to characterize the hydrochemical
influence of leachate throughout the year due to solid waste characteristics of the groundwater in Punjab, groundwater
disposal site. samples were collected from different cities of Punjab
Province and analyzed for 28 water quality parameters
K.C.Khare et.al [10] he was done water quality assessment Groundwater suitability for domestic and irrigation purposes
of Katraj lake, pune. He was done water analysis for the was assessed by using WHO and USDA standards.SAR
parameters like pH, DO, BOD, COD, TDS, Calcium, values and the sodium percentage (Na%) in locations
Magnesium and Hardness for lake water. The analysis of indicate that majority of the groundwater samples are
Water quality indicates the temperature in the range of suitable for irrigation. This investigational study indicates
240C.The pH was 7.3 to 8.45.It shows slightly alkaline water. that water in many cities of Pakistan is unsafe for human
The DO varied from 4.8 to 5.7 mg/l.The total hardness consumption due to presence of both bacterial and chemical
ranged from 160 to 298 mg/l which is higher than contamination.

3. Assessment of Water Quality Swarna Latha, 2008). According to BIS and ICMR the
desirable limit of TDS is 500 mg/l. If TDS value is more
In now days due to increase in population, industrialization, than 500 mg/l, it may cause gastro intestinal irritation. High
agricultural activities and urbanization, large quantities of TDS presence in the water decreases the quality and affects
sewage and industrial wastewater are discharged into water the taste of water (Guru Prasad, 2005).
bodies has significantly contributed to the pollution of the
surface and ground water. The objective of the present study Measurement of Hardness:
was to assess water quality of various ground water sources The limit of total hardness value for drinking water is to be
in India for drinking and agriculture. For the assessment of within 300 mg/l of CaCO3.Higher concentration of hardness
water pollution status of the water bodies, the following was found may be due to natural accumulation of salt, or
water quality parameters were analyzed: (1) pH (2) surface runoff, water enter from direct pollution by human
Conductivity (3) Temperature (4) Total dissolved solid activities.
(TDS) (6) Total Alkalinity (7) Hardness (8) Cations and
Anions (9)Carbonates and Bicarbonates. (10) Sulphates. Measurement of Chloride:
Chloride is one of the most important parameter in assessing
Measurement of pH: the water quality and higher concentration of chloride
The pH is important parameter of water, which determines indicates higher degree of organic pollution (Yogendra and
the suitability of water for various purposes such as Puttaiah, 2008). According to BIS and ICMR the
drinking, bathing, cooking, washing and agriculture etc. The permissible limit of chloride in drinking water is 250 mg/l.
pH level of water having desirable limit is 6.5 to 8.5 as High concentration of chloride was observed may be due to
specified by the BIS. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a natural processes such as the passage of water through
pH of 7. Water with a pH below 7.0 is considered acidic natural salt formations in the earth or it may be an indication
while water with pH greater than 7.0 is considered as basic of pollution from industrial or domestic use (Renn, 1970). In
or alkaline. drinking water, high chloride content may lead to laxative
effects (Raviprakash and Rao, 1989; Dahiya and Kaur,
Measurement of Conductivity: 1999).
Electrical conductivity is the capacity of electrical current
that passes through the water. It is directly related to Measurement of Turbidity:
concentration of ionized substances in water and may also Nephelometer instrument measures the intensity of scattered
be related to problems of excessive hardness. According to light by turbid particles at right angle to the incident beam of
BIS and ICMR the desirable limit of Conductivity is 600 light in comparison with the intensity of light passing
μm/cm. Solutions of most inorganic acids, bases, and salts through the sample. Scattering of light is a function of
are relatively good conductors. In contrast, the conductivity Tyndall effect exhibited by colloidal suspended particles.
of distilled water is less than 1 μmhos/cm. Turbidity of samples is measured by Nephelometer based on
this principle. The maximum Permissible level is 5 NTU.
Measurement of Alkalinity:
The standard desirable limit of alkalinity of potable water is Measurement of Temperature:
120 mg/l. The maximum Permissible level is 600 mg/l. The temperature is measured with help of Digital
Excessive alkalinity may cause eye irritation in human and Thermometer. The thermometer is immersed in sample and
chlorosis in plants (Sisodia and Moundiotiya, 2006). It is temperature is recorded.
measured by titration with standardized acid to a pH value of
4.5 and is expressed commonly as milligrams per liter as
calcium carbonate.
Measurement of TDS:
TDS in groundwater can also be due to natural sources such
as sewage, urban runoff and industrial waste (Joseph, 2001;
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 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438
Physicochemical Characteristics of Water in India evaluation of groundwater quality for irrigation in
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 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438
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