Water Science & Technology Vol 66 No 7 pp 1502–1510 © IWA Publishing 2012 doi:10.2166/wst.2012.338

Modeling mineral phase change chemistry of groundwater in a rural-urban fringe

S. K. Singh, Prashant K. Srivastava, M. Gupta and S. Mukherjee

This research paper aims to determine the genetic origin of the chemical elements in groundwater. It deals with the results of physicochemical parameters, to evaluate the hydro-geochemistry of groundwater in rural-urban fringe of district Bareilly, India. Pre- and post-monsoon sampling has been carried out, which reveals inter-seasonal variability effect on the hydro-geochemical processes. Geochemical modeling especially computation of saturation index was undertaken using the WATEQ4F model. Majority of samples fall in the category of undersaturation, which further suggests that groundwater still has potential to dissolve more minerals. Chemical categorizations of groundwater samples were performed with the help of the Aquachem model. Grouping of groundwater on the Piper diagram reveals a common composition and origin. In most of the area, water facies is of Ca²⁺−HCO₃⁻ type in both the seasons. It also indicates that in pre-monsoon, ion exchange is the dominant process, whereas in post-monsoon, both ion exchanges as well as reverse ion exchanges are reported in the groundwater of the study area.

Keywords: groundwater; hydro-geochemistry; piper analysis; rural-urban fringe; WATEQ4F

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