S.M. Deshpande¹, P.D. Shinde^1* and K.R. Aher²

¹Department of Geology, Institute of Science, Caves Road, Aurangabad-431506, India

²Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency, Darga Road, Aurangabad-431005, India

*E-mail:prafulshinde1970@gmail.com

Abstract                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Present study was undertaken on 85 groundwater samples collected from the Aurangabad urban city area. The groundwater chemistry is primarily controlled by rock-water interaction. The hydrochemical analysis reveals that the groundwater is predominantly of CaNaHCO3 type, fresh and hard to very hard in nature. The NO3 concentrations in the groundwater of the study area exceed the permissible limits in 34.11% of the samples. Water quality index (WQI) indicates that 68% and 16% of groundwater samples fall in good and poor categories for drinking purpose. The calculated values of R and R reveal that 96.47% of the groundwater samples belong to (Na+-SO -) and deep meteoric percolation types. The effective leaching, dissolution process and rock-water interaction process are the main source for degrading the groundwater quality at some locations.

Keywords: Groundwater quality, drinking purpose, WQI, Statistical analysis, Aurangabad, Maharashtra