| dc.description | Water quality is characterized in terms of the chemical, physical and biological
properties of water. There are several factors that affect water quality. The quality
of natural water is related to the quality of recharge water, the mineralogy of soils
and aquifer sediments, and the residence time in the ground water flow system,
and the presence of nearby saline water. However, the primary influence on
groundwater quality (as well as surface water quality) is the contamination brought
about by urban storm water, agricultural runoff, domestic wastewater, industrial
wastewater, and hydrologic modifications and human activity are the major
sources, which govern the water quality. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Judgment of water quality in modern agriculture is essential for irrigating various
crops as well as drinking and industrial uses. A research work was conducted
during February-April, 2006; to assess the ionic concentration of groundwater and
surface water of Phulbari Upazila at Dinajpur district. Exactly, 108 water samples
were collected from different locations and analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, cations
(Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, B, Zn, Mn, Fe, As) and anions (HCO3, Cl, SO4, NO3), SAR,
SSP, RSC, Hy and COD. Among studied parameters for irrigation purposes, the
pH values (pH = 6.24 to 7.98) indicated that the waters were slightly acidic to
slightly alkaline. EC and SAR was categorized as C1S1, C2S1 and C3S1 which
revealed that waters carried ‘low’ to ‘high’ salinity but ‘low’ alkalinity hazards.
‘Fresh’ and ‘brackish’ waters were rated by TDS values. SSP values were found as
‘excellent’ to doubtful’. ‘Suitable’ and ‘soft’ to ‘very hard’ classes were observed
as per RSC and Hr values, respectively. B toxicity was not detected and can be
regarded as ‘excellent’ but the Cl toxicity was found only in 2 samples. In respect
to heavy metals, higher concentration of arsenic (As > 0.10 mg L”') was found in
10 samples most of them were in shallow to middle depth but rest of the samples
were in safe limit. Assessment of drinking water quality, a remarkable amount of
Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, HCO3, CO3, Cl, NO3 and SO, were present. Moreover, the
concentration of Mn, Cu and Zn were within the safe limit with some exceptions.
Arsenic (As) contamination was found in 29 samples which exceeded the
permissible limit (> 0.05 mg L”' or 5 ppb). No water samples were found ‘suitable’
for all kinds of industrial uses considering their chemical properties but some
waters could ‘safely’ be used for the specific industries. Iron chips and taro »
methods were tested to remove arsenic (As) from contaminated water. Taro
method showed better result than iron chips method even the outflow rate was 7.2
L hr’. Therefore, it is suggested that taro method may be used to purify polluted
water in the study area before specific uses. | en_US |
