Assessment of Groundwater Quality of Hubballi City, Karnataka, India by Using Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index, Weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index and Geospatial Techniques

The assessment of Groundwater with regards to its quality helps to grade it for drinking and other purposes. Safe drinking water availability is of utmost importance. Taking into consideration the shortage of potable water in recent past, groundwater quality assessment has gained importance. The groundwater quality is deteriorating at an alarming rate due to improper disposal of wastewater from domestic use and industries. This work aims at assessing the groundwater quality of Hubballi city, one of the fast-developing cities of North Karnataka with respect to population and industrialization. Hubballi city is classified into seven different zones with 26 sampling stations. Groundwater samples from these identified stations are analyzed during pre monsoon and post monsoon seasons for physiochemical characteristics such as pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness, alkalinity, chloride, sodium, potassium, nitrate and fluoride using standard laboratory procedures. Water quality index was calculated using Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Method and Weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index (WAWQI) method and further spatial distribution maps are created using (Inverse Distance Weighting) IDW tool in GIS. Based on water quality index, the water of the whole area is categorized. From CCME it is found that for both the seasons the groundwater quality is ranked as marginal which indicates water quality is frequently threatened or impaired; conditions often depart from natural or desirable levels. From WAWQI, S2, S3, S7, S16 and S24 for post-monsoon and S16 and S24 for pre-monsoon are unfit for human consumption. From the spatial distribution map, nitrate concentration is more during pre-monsoon period and fluoride concentration during post-monsoon season. The stations with poor water quality need attention before consumption.