Groundwater Hydrogeochemical Characterization of Chittar Sub Basin, Tambaraparani River, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu

Hydrogeochemical characterization of 82 groundwaters has been done in Chittar sub basin of Tambaraparani river, Tirunelveli District. In this attempt major cations and anions were analysed and other parameters were calculated. The pH and EC varied from 6.60 to 8.50 and 115 μmhos/cm to 9780 μmhos/cm. The TDS and Total hardness varied from 81mg/L to 6846 mg/L and 40 mg/L to 1818 mg/L. The range of chemical concentration of cations such as Ca, Mg, Na, K and anions like Cl, HCO₃, SO₄, NO₃ varied from 12 mg/L to 533 mg/L, 3 mg/L to 116 mg/L, 9 mg/L to 3255 mg/L, 1.0 to 89.0 mg/L and 9 mg/L to 2904 mg/L, 45 mg/L to 691 mg/L, 2 mg/L to 237 mg/L, 1 mg/L to 16 mg/L respectively. SAR ranges from 0.592 to 22.82 and the RSC varied from 32.46 to 5.48. The results show that certain groundwater sample locations exceed the maximum permissible limit but exceeding the desirable limit of WHO standard for drinking. The attempt revealed the present level of element contamination and source of the ionic contribution in the study area.