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Understanding the nexus of land use and water quality can potentially underline the influences within the groundwater management. The study envisages land use-specific qualitative assessment of the groundwater resources in Ghaziabad district, in western Uttar Pradesh, India. For encountering the relative impacts of land use on the groundwater quality, chemometric analysis has been employed to apportion the pollution sources. The integration of quality parameters, in the information entropy index modeling, has segregated the quality classes and visualized the seasonal suitability trends as per potability standards along with non-carcinogenic health hazard risk assessment (HHRA). The qualitative assessment of the groundwater resources, along with spatial distribution, has deciphered a polluting impact, specifically in western and south western parts of district, and observed the linkages with direct and indirect discharges/seepages from densely populated residential and industrial land use types localized in urbanized areas. Statistically significant annual and seasonal variations have been found exclusively for EC, Mg 2+ , F - , Cd, Cr (total) , Ni, and Pb which inferred variable concentrations, whereas land use types showed a non-significant variation within groundwater quality. Chemometric-based source apportioning and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) have derived salinization and enrichment of dissolved salts, arising from mixed sources and contributes to metal pollution, i.e., mainly from anthropogenic sources. Information EWQI derived poor to extremely poor category represented degraded potability specifically for fewer sites located within western and southern parts on the Yamuna-Hindon flood plains for limited sites of residential, industrial, and agricultural in an urbanized region. However, majority of the samples fall under excellent to good groundwater quality, recommendable in the north and north-eastern (peri-urban) regions. Non-carcinogenic HHRA has shown that majority of the samples categorized under unsafe value for hazard index (HI > 1), for females and children and thus, presumed probable health hazard risk from metal groundwater pollution in south-western part, eastern, and northern regions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The seasonal water quality of the Surajpur wetland was analysed using 13 physicochemical parameters, including pH, TDS, EC, temperature, total hardness, total alkalinity, DO, BOD, phosphate, fluoride, nitrate, sulphate, and chloride employing standardized procedures. Fifteen samples were collected in triplicate from five distinct locations within the wetland. These samples were then compared to the BIS and WHO standards (2012). The analysis used titrimetric techniques to determine DO, BOD, total hardness, total alkalinity, and chlorides. Moreover, phosphate, sulphate, and nitrate were determined through UV-spectrophotometry. The wetland has an alkaline nature, the hydrogeochemical facies that dominate the surface water are Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3, and Cl−. The results indicate that TDS, total alkalinity, phosphates, and fluorides exceeded the permissible limits. The evaluation of water quality in the study area was conducted through the implementation of the standard Water Quality Index (WQI), the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index-(CCME-WQI) and the Comprehensive Pollution Index (CPI) and their associated parameters.. The CCME-WQI ranges from 46 to 53, indicating very poor/marginal water quality, the WQI value ranges from 82.80 to 96.18, indicating good water quality, while the CPI ranges from 0.9 to 1.15, indicating very poor/marginal water quality. The pH-EC and pH-TA, TDS-CPI, Cl-TH and the WQI-PO43− are negatively correlated at a significance level p < 0.01. The TA-EC, BOD-DO and TA-PO43− are negatively correlated at a significance level p < 0.05 as per the correlation matrix result. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, 5 sampling sites were divided into two clusters based on the similarity of water quality characteristics: comparatively less polluted and more polluted sites. The four principal components were identified using PCA, principal components contribute to 46.02%, 223.48%, 19.38% and 11.11%, of the total variance of the dataset respectively. The PCA indicate that the variation in water quality is due to anthropogenic activities around the vicinity of the wetland. In order to preserve the wetland's aesthetic value and ecological health, preventive measures such as de-weeding, preventing the infiltration of untreated sewage, and desilting are advised. Incorporating these measures can prevent potential damage to the wetland and ensure the survival of its ecology and aesthetic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Najafgarh drain is the first major drain that joins the Yamuna River at Wazirabad in Delhi, India, and is known to contribute to the maximum pollution load to this river. The drain is originally an extension of the Sahibi River and was intentionally constructed as a canal to carry stormwater, but presently, it is carrying more of sewage, agricultural, and industrial effluents received through various small and large secondary drains. The present study has analyzed the water quality status of this interconnected system, i.e., the Najafgarh drain, its associated secondary drains, and the Yamuna River for physicochemical parameters (n = 16), microbiological parameter (n = 1), and heavy metal concentrations (n = 8). The analysis of the surface water samples collected during pre- and post-monsoon seasons showed that secondary drain discharges significantly impacted the water quality of the Najafgarh drain, which in turn affected the Yamuna River. Out of the eight selected secondary drains for this study, the Goyla dairy outlet came out as the most polluted site in terms of organic pollutants while the Basaidarapur drain was loaded with heavy metal contaminants. Statistical tools comprising hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), Pearson's correlation, and principal component analysis (PCA) were further implemented on the water quality dataset for a better understanding of the possible sources of contamination for organic and inorganic pollutants in the selected sampling sites. The present study, thus, might help in providing key highlights to the policymakers for effective regulation and management of the point source discharges in Najafgarh drain, which will ultimately restrict its pollution loadings in Yamuna River, Delhi, and also help in the restoration of this important water body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reports pollution evaluation indices employed to assess the intensity of metal pollution in water systems affected by acid mine drainage from rat-hole coal mines prevalent in North-east India. The concentration of seven eco-toxic metals was evaluated from coal mine waters which showed concentration order of Iron (Fe) > Manganese (Mn) > Zinc (Zn) > Chromium (Cr) > Lead (Pb) > Copper (Cu) > Cadmium (Cd). The water samples were acidic with mean pH 2.67 and burdened with dissolved solids (924.8 mg/L). The heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) displayed high and medium range of pollution level in majority of the water samples. Statistical correlation suggested strong positive correlation between metals such as Cr with Mn (r = 0.780), Mn with Fe (r = 0.576), Cr with Fe (r = 0.680), Pb with Mn (r = 0.579) and Cr with Pb (r = 0.606), indicating Mn, Pb, Fe and Cr to be major metal contaminants; an unequivocal affirmation of degradation in water quality. The sampled waters had lower heavy metal concentration during monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The commonly occurring bacterial species Bacillus pseudomycoides and Bacillus siamensis were chosen to understand their behavioral responses toward metal contamination. Findings demonstrated that Bacillus spp. from control environment had low tolerance to metals stress as evident from their MTC, MIC and growth curve studies. The survival of the native isolates across varying pH, salinity and temperature in the coal mine areas suggest these isolates as promising candidates for reclamation of rat-hole coal mining sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study analyzed the spatial variability in groundwater quality and depth in National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, India. The study classified the parameters into five distribution classes viz., low, moderately low, moderate, moderately high, and high. Spatial variability maps were generated using kriging tool in ArcGIS environment. Primary data collected seasonally during 2012–2014 were used for the generation of maps. Physico-chemical parameters were correlated with each other and groundwater depth. All the parameters were found to be negatively correlated with groundwater depth. Spatial distribution maps showed that maximum concentration of most parameters was found in the northern parts of the study area, while maximum depth was reported from the southern part. Maximum area of around 59% of total area of Delhi has low electrical conductivity, TDS, and hardness values. With groundwater depth improving toward north Delhi, groundwater quality is found to be improving toward south parts of Delhi. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]