Assessment of spring water quality of Khandbari Municipality in Sankhuwasabha District, Eastern Nepal

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Aug 23. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-29138-9. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe study was carried out in the Khandbari Municipality, Sankhuwasabha District, Eastern Nepal to document the spring location and assess the water quality of the spring water for drinking and irrigation purposes. A total of 85 springs were mapped, which are located from 274 to 2176 m in altitude. Spring water samples were collected from 33 springs in the pre-monsoon (November, 2021) and 31 springs in the post-monsoon (March, 2022). Correlation matrices, t-test, principal component analysis (PCA), Piper diagram, Gibbs diagram, water quality index (WQI), United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL) diagram, and Wilcox diagram were applied for evaluating the spring water. All the physicochemical parameters were within the Nepalese National Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS) and drinking water quality guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) except for pH in the pre-monsoon and iron in the post-monsoon season. The main contributors to the groundwater are Na+, Ca2+, Cl-, total dissolved solids (TDS), and total hardness, which exhibit significant correlations with electrical conductivity (EC) similar to TDS, suggesting their common source of origin. Based on the WQI, spring water is excellent in the post-monsoon and excellent and good in the pre-monsoon season. Furthermore, the spring water is excellent for irrigation purposes except for the percent sodium in the post-...
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: research