Qualitative Evaluation of Groundwater Resources of Haripur Basin

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the groundwater quality of Haripur basin, Khyber Pakhtonkhwa Pakistan. Physical parameters such as pH, EC, HCO, CT, P, trace elements and heavy metals (Le, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ca, Mg, Na and K") and stable isotopic analysis (&D and 80) were examined in 30 water samples which has taken from shallow (dug well/bore well) and deep aquifer (tube well) at different points and compared with WHO guidelines for drinking water. Physico chemical analyses were performed in-situ by the help of portable meter. HCO, and CI were carried out by titration. Heavy metal analysis was carried out by polarograph 797 computrace by VA-83 using hanging mercury dropping electrode (HMDE). The stable isotope analyses were performed using a modified Varian Mat GD-150 Mass spectrometer pH and EC of ground water samples were found in the range of 7.7-9.3 and 298-1532 µS/cm respectively, Concentration of HCO, CT and F were in the range of 126.6 -534.6 mg/L, 3.6-112.7 mg/L and 0.0-2.6 mg/L respectively. All groundwater parameters in both aquifers were found within the permissible limit of WHO except for Ca, Na, F and EC which exceeded the acceptable level in some deep and shallow aquifer samples. The overall results revealed that the elevated values of parameters in shallow aquifer make them more prone to pollution as compared to deep aquifer. The higher concentration of few parameters reflects the presence of limestone in haripur basin and influence of industrial effluents and agriculture activities on the quality of ground water. Multivariate statistical analysis like inter-metal correlation and Principal Component analysis (PCA) results revealed that major sources of groundwater contamination were geo-genic and anthropogenic activities in study area. The "O values of groundwater ranges from -5.86 to 3.58 with the average of -4.85. The D ranges from-33.88 to -23.13 with the average of-28.18. The isotopic data for Haripur basin lie on local evaporation line and global meteoric water line (GMWL) which indicates the recharge mechanism through precipitation and river. The 'd-excess' values less than 10 in groundwater samples reflects high evaporation rate whereas in most part of study area the higher values indicate evaporation rate effected by humidity.