Assessment of physico-chemical characteristics of groundwater: A case study

Aims: This study focused on the determination of various physico-chemical characteristics of groundwater and to perform a statistical analysis to determine the relationship between the measured parameters. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out during April-May 2011, in Vellore city, India. The various physico-chemical characteristics such as pH, turbidity, chlorides, acidity, alkalinity, sulphates, dissolved oxygen, and hardness were determined by following the procedure prescribed by American Public Health Association standard methods. This study was carried out to ensure the quality of groundwater to make use of it for domestic purpose by comparing the analytical results with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water quality standards. A statistical study such as correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) ver. 20 software. The correlation analysis was performed for measured parameters to determine the relationship between the variables. The One-way ANOVA was applied to estimate the uncertainty in measured values. Results: All the measured parameters are within the permissible limit as per WHO and BIS. The statistical analysis for all the parameters has revealed a positive correlation and the F test values are significant at 95% level. Conclusion: From the investigation results, it can be concluded that the water quality of the study area is fit for domestic purposes. The descriptive statistics of the parameters analyzed along with correlation matrix and one-way analysis proved that there is no variation among the measured parameters.