Water Quality Assessment in the Tribal Populated Districts of Odisha Mayurbhanj Keonjhar Deogarh

Abstract

Investigation of presence of hydrogeochemical parameters in groundwater/drinking water is an emerging requirement due to its chemical toxicity as well as long-term health effects. The current study had the objective of water quality assessment of tribal populated district of Odisha, Deogarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj. The ground water samples were collected from three districts of Odisha viz. Keonjhar, Deogarh and Mayurbhanj covering about 21,502 km2 (15% of the total area of the state). The study area is a landlocked hilly area and a part of Sighbhum granitic zone. The geographical formation is widely divergent and predominated by sedimentary rocks. Metamorphic, Granite, Quarzite. Granite and Precambrian rocks. The water bearing formation of the area can be divided into two parts, one of them is area underlain by latest formation of alluvial soil which is unconsolidated and one of the areas is featured by basement rock, fissured and fractured rocks which is also unconsolidated. In this area, all these rivers exhibit dendritic type of drainage pattern and are structurally controlled. These rivers when flow over mineral and rocks they leaches away anions and cations with them which finally gets settled down in water bodies like lake, river, wells and ground water, there by polluting them. The main aquifer systems in quarternary alluvial deposits under lain by Tertiary sediments. The major parts of the district exhibited shallow water levels. The minor declines in water levels were observed in particularly the alluvial areas. The major minerals found in the study area are, titanite, biotite, feldspar, graphite, iron-ore (hematite), vanadiferous and titaniferous magnetic, Chaina clay, galena (lead ore), kyanite, manganese and chromium. Systematic district-wise grid samples (dimension of grid 6 x 6 km2) were collected from the study area, during the pre and post -monsoon period of 2019. In pre-monsoon total 255 samples were collected (55 samples from Deogarh, 59 from Keonjhar and 141 from Mayurbhanj) while in post-monsoon 208 samples were collected (52 samples from Deogarh, 64 from Keonjhar and 92 from Mayurbhanj). Few grids are inaccessible due to either dense forest or difficult hilly terrain or no habitat region. The sample collection during post monsoon was less because of the water logging in the areas. Similipal National Park is National Park and a tiger reserve in the Mayurbhanj district in this study area covering 2,750 km².The samples were analyzed for uranium, pH, TDS, EC, ORP, temperature, salinity, DO, fluoride, chloride, nitrate, sulphate, phosphate, hardness, alkalinity, carbonate and bicarbonate. newlinevii newlineMayurbhanj, Keonjhar, and Deogarh districts of North Western Odisha are rich regions in terms of mineral, mining, and agricultural sectors. Due to their abundant natural resources, these districts have attracted unprecedented investments in steel, sponge iron, power, refinery, and cement sectors. Hence, the water bodies are getting polluted due to industrial effluents. From another prospect, tribal inhabitants of these areas are completely dependent on the naturally available water for their daily life. Therefore, there is a need for water quality monitoring and analysis of the surface water/drinking water/groundwater of these regions. Many of the water samples failed to meet the standard of clean drinking water. Various multivariate statistical analysis like principal component analysis, cluster, factor analysis, box and Whisker plot, GIS method like water quality index, was done for interpretation of data. newline