GROUNDWATER OCCURRENCE AND QUALITY IN SAHARANPUR TOWN, INDIA : IMPACT OF URBANIZATION

Abstract

The storage and movement of ground water in alluvial aquifer systems depends on the physical character of the medium and the aquifer matrix. Because of its proximity to various sources of contamination, shallow aquifers in many urban areas get contaminated by unsaturated flow through overlying pervious zones in the alluvial sediments. Further, in urbanized areas, ground water within the shallow aquifer is commonly degraded by municipal and urban runoff, which may include sewage andindustrial effluents. Thus, leakage from the shallow horizons can be potential source of pollutant transport to deeper levels. The deterioration in quality of ground water available for urban supplies worldwide is causing increasing concern to the communities as the water shortages go on increasing. The Saharanpur town of Western Uttar Pradesh in India is a sizable urban complex growing at a steady rate as a result of increase in population accompanied byspurt in industrial activity. The present study seeks to examine the impact of urbanization and industrial development on the shallow ground water regime of Saharanpur town (U.P.) in North India where the major source of water supply to the urban populace is from shallow hand pumps and deeper tubewells. The available data about the growth of Saharanpur town indicates that its built up area increased from 1110 hectare in 1973 to 2340 hectare in 2003. Further, the population grew from 1,05,622 in 1941 to 4,68,074 in 2003 i.e. more than four times in the last 60 years or so. Evaluation of ground water pollution from different sources have been attempted in past by several workers. Aller et al. [1987] suggested a seven parameter index called DRASTIC to evaluate ground water vulnerability of an area on the basis of hydrogeologic setting of the alluvial areas. The Drastic approach has been widely used with or without modifications for assessment of groundwater vulnerability for alluvial aquifers. In India, agencies like Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have so far been using methods to evaluate ground water pollution potential commonly from the data of depth to water table and rate of infiltration. of the Hindon Basra, bounded between latitude 29° 55' and 30° 0- North „, •„ - »T 3, Ba, The area „located „Sallaranpur ^ ^^££2™ •ncluded in the Survey „f mdia topographic sheet No. ^ „£^1W^ invesugated area is about 90W in area. ' e Win, aview ,o delineate the current ,a„d use in me sW Saharanpur city has been prepared from the sattelite image (LBS m» ," * 2002 which shows that as much as 36-/ of I 1 (LISS-"I-Pan mCT«ed **0*< year barren land. **™" "*» tod Wh— «* area is nnroihreamst) feUlTowTed b^yfB^habh"a"r_Sahar^anPUr D^iStt-^^ ^^*«^ Si^*W-»g0^. <* alluvum and older alluvium ofRecent age respectively towards south. p£j££T 2ZT8ionrinttetoa8e^mofHtadonb-----.~t" regmnal hydrogeologica! fence diagram of the area indicates ma, there » genera,,yflowstowiffdssoumeastandSoummdisgo„dinquZ ^ The. are various notable industrial unita in the area such as alarge papermill atobacco companv, drstilleries, dectroplaring, meat products and chemical unita Z J^Z ™^^^^«;.;«-^y™<to",™w*Wrf«c»h-M-vm- e*«erriaveresyrstiemwadHdinig^JttIhe«lIi" lo d f*e nver. ^ ,„„„„ map Qf fte ^ prepaiej ^ * e mchcates the master slope ofthe ground surface towards south. 11 Lithologically, the water bearing formations in the study area are composed of fine to medium grained sands separated by ciay horizons. Two types of aquifers have been delineated : the upper one is a shallow unconfined aquifer extending down to 18-20 m depth whereas the deeper aquifers are confined to semiconfined in nature. The ground water leveling monitoring was commenced in the area from 2001 initially on 17 shallow dug wells which was switched over to 51 hand pump well sites due to drying up of the open wells. A total of eight cycles of the ground water level monitoring have been carried out between 2001 to 2006. Further, upto to nineteen ground water samples were procured during each cycle (adding to a total of 136 samples) from shallow hand pumps in the city. Forcomparison, ground water from India Mark II hand pumps tapping deeper aquifer was also sampled at a few locations. The major physicochemical, bacteriological parameters along with the selected heavy metals were analyzed from theground water samples. Besides, samples of raw sewage and effluents from point sources of pollution and from line sources of pollution (drains) and urban diffuse runoff were also collected for their chemical analysis. Thechemical analysis of surface waterin the areaindicates high concentration of fecal coliforms and BOD at few localities, especially in the nalas and the sewage. Though the overall quality of ground water samples drawn from the unconfined aquifers has total dissolved solids (TDS) and other physicochemical parameters generally in acceptable ranges as per Bureau of Indian Standards for drinking (BIS: 10500); some of these like TDS, nitrate, sulphate, CaC03 hardness, and alkalinity are found to exceed the BIS Limits at a number of localities namely Sheikhpura Qadim (in south), S.M. Inter College in central part of study area, localities in the vicinity of Dhamola nala especially towards south and in the west-central parts of the Saharanpur town in the vicinity of Kamela nala.. Besides, out of the heavy metals analysed, cadmium, chromium, copper and manganese have been observed to exceed the permissible limits at many of these places. The hazardous physicochemical and bacteriological parameters and heavy metals identified and detected in the ground water are fecal coliforms, cadmium, chromium, nitrates and sulphates. The possible line sources of pollution of the ground water have also been identified to be the Dhamola and Kamela nala(s) which seem to carry the sewage andindustrial effluents of the town andits industries.