Hydrogeochemical Characterization and Groundwater Quality of Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration in Precambrian Terrain, Eastern India

Systematic and comprehensive analysis with integration of geochemical methods, multivariate statistical analysis, and quality for drinking and irrigation uses were carried out on forty-two groundwater samples to elucidate the regional factors and processes influencing the geochemical composition of groundwater. Groundwater geochemistry revealed that the abundance of Ca2+ and Na+ was contributed by weathering of carbonate and sodium bearing minerals, while higher HCO3– and Cl– resulted from dissolution of carbonic and salt deposits. The rock weathering is the dominant mechanism controlling the major ion chemistry of groundwater as well as anthropogenic activities. The dominant hydrogeochemical facies of groundwater was Ca-Mg-SO4 and Ca-Mg-Cl. About 33% of the groundwater samples have negative values of chloro-alkaline index revealing chloro-alkaline disequilibrium and the reaction as a cation–anion exchange reaction, while in 67% of the samples, the values are positive, indicating a base–exchange reaction. The saturation index reveals the presence of calcareous nodules, containing a mixture of calcite. The suitability for domestic uses as per BIS 2012 and WHO 2009 for drinking water reaveals that high concentrations of EC, TDS, SO42–, Cl– and F– makes it unsuitable for drinking and domestic uses. Quality assessment for irrigation uses suggest that the groundwater is of excellent to good category, which can be used for irrigation without any serious hazards. Higher salinity and magnesium hazard values at some sites restrict the suitability of groundwater for irrigation.