Abstract:
Groundwater is a precious resource of limited extent. A systematic planning of groundwater exploitation using modern techniques is essential for the proper utilization and management of this precious but shrinking natural resource. Groundwater quality assessment is important to ensure sustainable safe use of water. The groundwater quality of the Wakal river basin was analyzed. It is located between 24° 46' 34.65'' to 24° 8' 49.41'' N latitude and 73° 6' 23.41'' to 73° 35' 54.18" E longitude with an area of 1914.32 km
2, of which 1867.47 km
2 (98 per cent) falls in Udaipur district of Rajasthan and 46.84 km
2 in Gujarat. The maximum length of the basin is 71.22 km (N-S) and the maximum width is 41.01 km (E-W). The entire Wakal river basin is hard-rock terrain situated in southern part of Rajasthan. For assessment of groundwater quality in Wakal river basin of Udaipur district, the basin is divided into 66 grid considering size of one grid as 6km x 6km. The water samples were collected from 63 sites during pre monsoon and 60 sites during post monsoon period. These samples were analyzed in the laboratory to find out different water quality parameters such as pH, EC, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, K, CO
3, HCO
3, Cl and SO
4. The different water quality parameter map of the Wakal river basin was prepared under GIS environment and the spatio-temporal variations of groundwater quality parameters were analyzed. The highest EC, TDS, Na, SO
4 was found in village Kotra and Ca, Mg, Cl in village Bira of Jhadol block during pre monsoon period. During post monsoon period the highest EC, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl and SO
4 was found in village Kotra. The EC and TDS show highly significant and good positive correlation with most of the parameters except CO
3 and HCO
3 during both pre and post monsoon period. The EC also show highly significant and good positive correlation with TDS during both pre and post monsoon period.