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Hydrochemical appraisal of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes and the major influencing factors: a case study in and around Hua County, China

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Abstract

Groundwater is the major source of water for drinking and irrigation purposes in and around Hua County, China. However, long-term industrial effluents in the upstream of the area have produced contamination to groundwater. To provide a clear and better understanding of the status and extent of groundwater pollution to local decision makers, groundwater quality was assessed for drinking and irrigation purposes in this study using sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), soluble sodium percentage (%Na), permeability index (PI), an entropy weighted water quality index (EWQI), and some graphical approaches such as Wilcox and US Salinity Laboratory (USSL) diagrams. Factors that have significant influences on the hydrochemistry and quality of groundwater were also discussed in detail. Finally, some measures for the protection and management of groundwater in the study area were provided to local decision makers. The results show that shallow groundwater in and around the Hua County is mainly slightly alkaline freshwater with the majority of the samples falling in the category of HCO3–Ca and mixed HCO3·SO4–Ca·Mg. Medium quality water is prevalent in the study area for drinking purpose, and the main contaminants in groundwater are total dissolved solid (TDS), total hardness (TH), SO4 2−, Cl−, NO3 −, NO2 −, and oil. Groundwater in the study area is suitable for agricultural irrigation with regard to sodium hazard, but mixing of low and high salinity water is recommended before irrigation to reduce the salinity hazard in local areas. Natural processes such as weathering of parent rocks, cation exchange, and groundwater evaporation are the dominant factors influencing groundwater chemistry in the study area. However, river water leakage and human interference are becoming increasingly important in altering natural groundwater chemistry. The recommendations suggest in this study may help to prevent further groundwater pollution in the study area, and the results and recommendations reported here will also be useful for many other regions facing similar problems.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the financial support from the Foundation of Outstanding Young Scholar of Chang’an University (310829153509), the Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Central Colleges (310829151072), the General Financial Grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015M580804), the Special Financial Grant from the Shaanxi Postdoctoral Science Foundation, the Doctor Postgraduate Technical Project of Chang’an University (2014G5290001), the Special Fund for Scientific Research on Public Interest of the Ministry of Water Resources (201301084), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41502234 and 41172212). Special thanks go to Xinsheng Lyu, Hui Tang, Hanting Zhang, Zhihua Zhang, and Jie Chen for their assistance in field investigation. The anonymous reviewers and the editors are also greatly acknowledged for their useful comments on the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang’an University, No. 126 Yanta Road, Xi’an, 710054, Shaanxi, China

    Peiyue Li, Jianhua Wu & Hui Qian

  2. Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region of the Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, No. 126 Yanta Road, Xi’an, 710054, Shaanxi, China

    Peiyue Li, Jianhua Wu & Hui Qian

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  1. Peiyue Li
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Li, P., Wu, J. & Qian, H. Hydrochemical appraisal of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes and the major influencing factors: a case study in and around Hua County, China. Arab J Geosci 9, 15 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2059-1

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