Deciphering geospatial variations in water quality of a perennial river for human consumption and agricultural application

ABSTRACT Present study was conducted on Basuhi River to evaluate the suitability of water for domestic and irrigational use by calculating water quality index (WQI), nutrient pollution index, permeability index, Kelly ratio, soluble sodium percentage, sodium absorption ratio, chloro-alkaline indices, and magnesium adsorption ratio. Major cations; Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ were found between 4.1 to 23, 0.85 to 7.5, 12.26 to 112.26, 13.7 to 87.5 and 6.3 to 28.1, 0.7 to 7.8, 46.2 to 168, 8.8 to 82.56 mg/L, while major anions SO42−, HCO3−, Cl−, PO43−, F−, and NO3− were found to be 23.5 to114.5, 1 to 51.98, 11.60 to 169.15, 0.198 to 1.598, 0.19 to 0.71, and 0.35 to 8.76 and 47.0 to 147.0, 4.0 to 24.02, 19.30 to 178.82, 0.012 to 3.61, 0.32 to 0.95, and 0.048 to 3.80 mg/L during pre and post monsoon season, respectively. Electrical conductivity, total hardness, Ca2+, and Mg2+ have exceeded the maximum desirable limit recommended by BIS (2012) and WHO (2017). WQI revealed that the water belongs to ‘moderate’ to ‘very poor’ category for drinking, however, majority of water samples were found fit for irrigational usage. Findings shall be helpful in determining the future environmental cost of development along the riverine ecosystem.