Assessment of Groundwater Quality in a Part of Chinnar Watershed, Perambalur District, Tamil Nadu, India

Hydrochemical studies play a major role in the chemical composition of groundwater. The present study was carried out to assess the groundwater quality in a part of Chinnar watershed located in the western part of Perambalur District, Tamilnadu, India.The dominance of ions present in the groundwater follows the order as Na⁺,Ca²⁺,K⁺ and Mg²⁺ for cations and HCO₃^-,Cl^- and SO₄²- for anions. Based on electrical conductivity the groundwater of this region is generally brackish and a few of them are classified as fresh. About 70% of the groundwater samples were in the category of good to permissible based on the recommendation of Bureau of Indian Standards. Ca-HCO₃, Na-Cl along with Ca-Mg-Cl are the dominant hydrochemical facies of the study area. The groundwater in general is mostly alkaline with moderate salinity. The groundwater is suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes in most of the areas except for a few locations, where they are unsuitable for drinking purpose.