Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No.

4 (2015) 35-43

Assessment of Groundwater Quality Using GIS - A Case

Study of the Churu District of Rajasthan

A. N. Singh1, Anuradha D.1 and Satish Mohanty2

1
Department of Civil Engineering, BITS-Pilani, Rajasthan, India; E-mail: arunnihal14@rediffmail.com

2
Department of EEE, BITS-Pilani, Rajasthan, India

Abstract
Assessment of Groundwater quality using the Water Quality Index (WQI) and the Geographic Information
System (GIS) was carried out in the Churu district of Rajasthan. The results of 8 physico-chemical
parameters were used for the calculation of the WQI. The results indicated that the WQI values range from
0 to 789 and thus indicates very poor groundwater quality status in the region in one case. The results of
8 physico-chemical parameters were used in the second case resulting in a WQI range from 0 to 3,279.
The geographical information system using the Inverse Distance Weighted method (IDW) delineated three
groundwater quality zones into good to very poor. The hierarchal cluster analysis identified anthropogenic
contamination and natural mineralization as the major processes controlling groundwater chemistry. From
the correlation matrix, it could be said that Turbidity, Fluorides as F- and TDS are responsible for high WQI
values in the region. The trend of WQI is very similar in both cases used to determine WQI. In arid regions
the WQI should be high.
Keywords: WQI, GIS, Dendrogram, Anthropogenic Contamination, Natural Mineralization.

Introduction Assessment of groundwater quality through Water

The determination of groundwater quality for human
consumption is important for the well being of the ever
increasing population (Ishaku, 2011). The supply of
good quality water is one of the important components
of groundwater protection and conservation strategies
and therefore useful in the planning and management
of groundwater. Groundwater quality depends on the
quality of recharged water, atmospheric precipitation,
inland surface water and subsurface geochemical
processes (Reza and Singh, 2010; Vasanthavigar et
al., 2010). The authors further stressed that temporal
changes in the origin and constitution of the recharged
water, hydrologic and human factors may cause
periodic change in groundwater quality. Water pollution
not only affects water quality but also threatens human
health, economic development, and social prosperity
(Milovanović, 2007). Hence, evaluation of groundwater
quality status for human consumption is important
for socio-economic growth, development and also
for establishing a database for planning future water
resource development strategies.
Water Quality Index (WQI) is an important technique
for demarcating groundwater quality and its suitability
for drinking purposes (Tiwari and Mishra, 1985).
Quality Index (WQI) studies and spatial distribution
of WQI utilizing GIS technology could be useful
for policy makers to take remedial measures. GIS
can be a powerful tool for developing solutions for
water resources problems to assess water quality,
determining water availability, understanding the
natural environment on a local and/or regional
scale (Swarna and Nageswara Rao, 2010). The
geographical information system and WQI, which
synthesizes different available water quality data into
an easily understandable format, provide a way to
summarize overall water quality conditions that can be
clearly communicated to policy makers (Strivastava et
al., 2011). Therefore, this study is focused on the results
of physico-chemical analysis of various parameters for
domestic use and development of WQI, and mapping
of their spatial distribution using GIS techniques. The
study is also aimed at determining the major processes
controlling groundwater chemistry.
Nelson et al. (2004), says that WQI is defined as an
evaluation of the physical, chemical and biological
nature of water with respect to its natural quality,
human effects and intended uses. It reduces a list of
parameters to a simpler expression to enable easier
interpretation of monitoring data. Insaf et al. (2007),

UDK: 628.112(540) 35
 Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43
worked on groundwater quality index using GIS,
where he calculated the normalised sub indices and
then ranked them. His study area is a few km2 and the
parameters he used are only chemical parameters
containing ions. The final index is represented in %
not in values. He then selected the combination of
parameters to show the variability of groundwater.
Noha Donia (2011), used the IDW for interpolating
the samples values and uses equations: qi=100(vi/
si), wqi=sigma (i=1 to n) (qi) and AWQI= sigma
(qi)(i=1 to n)/n to calculate the index. The value
between 0 to 100 is considered as good quality and
above is not recommended for drinking use.
Ramakrishnaiah et al. (2009) and Ishaku (2011)
have used the relative weight method to calculate
the index value, i.e. a weight is assigned to each
parameter is divided by the sum of all weights.
A quality rating scale (Qi) for each parameter is
assigned by dividing its concentration in each
groundwater sample by its respective standard
according to the guidelines by IS:10500 and the
result is multiplied by 100 (Gebrehiwot et al.,
2011). Then the Quality rating scale is multiplied by
relative weight and summation of all sub indexes
to get the quality index (QI). To get the final WQI,
summation of all sub indexes is done. Where, Qi is
the quality rating, Ci is the concentration of each
parameter in each water sample, and Si is the WHO
drinking water standard for each parameter. For
computing the WQI, the SI is first determined for
each parameter, which is then used to determine
the WQI as indicated by the following equation
(Reza and Singh, 2010): These equations are
given below:
Where SIi is the sub index of ith parameter; Qi is
the rating based on concentration of ith parameter
and n is the number of parameters. QIj is the quality
index of physical and chemical parameters.
Another set of equations used to calculate the WQI
is given from equation B.1 to Eq B.3 (Tiwari and
Manzoor, 1988).
The quality rating qi, for the ith water quality
parameter can be obtained by the following relation,
36
Where Vi = observed value of the ith parameter at a
given sampling site and Si = water quality standard.
Thus, the larger the value of qi, the more polluted
the water is, with respect to the corresponding
standard value (mg/L).
The overall water quality index was calculated by
aggregating these quality ratings linearly as follows,
Where n = number of parameters. The average
water quality index (AWQI) for n parameters was
calculated using this equation,
Katyal (2011) et al studied many quality indexes
for water and suggested that every area has been
affected by different parameters and that different
weights could be used in various regions. F Ghadimi
(2012) has used 2 indices and done statistical analysis
of them to calculate the WQI of water. He also
concluded that hydrochemical data were classified in
to 2 main groups: 1 - natural and; 2 - mining or leaching
sources. Mouna (2011) used the simple WQI equation
to calculate the qi for water using the weightage for
various parameters analysed for the samples. They
categorised each parameter into 3 categories i.e.
permissible limit, below limit and above limit and
produced the spatial distribution map of all parameters.
From the literature it is clear that all have attempted
a small area for their study with a maximum of 25
samples for calculating the WQI. It would be easier
to handle complex equations with a smaller number
of samples in calculating WQI but when a large area
and huge number of samples will be used, then
simple equations would be used to maintain control
on measurement of WQI.
Cluster analysis (CA) is a simple approach for
classification of groundwater quality into two or
more mutually exclusive unknown groups based
on the combination of interval variables (Hussein,
2004). The tool sorts out different objects into groups
such that the degree of association between the
objects is maximal if they belong to the same group
(Hamzaoui-Azaza et al., 2009). The hierarchal
cluster analysis according to Ward (1963), with
squared Euclidean distances, was applied to detect
multivariate similarities in groundwater quality.
Case Study
Description of the Study Area
The study area is the Churu district of the Rajasthan
state of India. It is located between latitudes
Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43
27°28’12”N to 29°0’ 02”N and longitudes 73°37’41”E
to 75°40’01”E (Figure 1), and covers an area of
about 16,830 km2.
Figure 1: Map of the study area showing
sampling points.
The area is characterized by dry and hot seasons
with arid to semi arid climatic conditions. The
rainy season commences in June and ends in
mid September. The average rainfall is about 100
mm, and the mean annual evapo-transpiration
of about 1200 mm, and the mean minimum and
maximum temperatures of 1°C and 51.7°C. The
major occupation of the people is agriculture, salt
production and stone quarrying and the area is
characterized by rural and urban settings. Sources
of water supply are from electricity run deep bore
wells and shallow boreholes. Some villages and
towns are getting the water supply from Indira
Gandhi Canal, but it is very irregular. There have
been some cases where livestock had rejected
this water for drinking. These sources of water
supply are unreliable as the quality of the water
is poor coupled with poor sanitary conditions. The
type of waste disposal practice in the area is the
open dump waste disposal system for household
solid waste, and most residents use pit latrines.
As the area is free from surface water and has
very low rainfall, the possibility of waste leaching
during rain is very rare. The main objectives of the
present study involve analysis of water samples for
physico-chemical parameters and development of
a Water Quality Index, and mapping of their spatial
distribution using GIS techniques. The study is also
aimed at determining the processes responsible
for controlling groundwater chemistry. The area is
underlain by the Quaternary (late Pleistocene) age
deposits and consists of Aeolian sediments (Figure
2). The Thar Desert covers the Quaternary (aeolian
sediment) deposits.
Figure 2: Geological map of the study area
Materials and Methods
88 water samples were collected from the different
locations and the same type of well. The positions of
the different water locations were determined using
GIS and recorded by GPS. After collection of the
samples, field parameters such as Temperature,
Colour, Turbidity, pH, Nitrate as NO3-, Nitrite as
NO2-, Fluoride as F-, and TDS were determined
in the laboratory using (standard methods 19th
edition, 1995) the titration method. The samples for
chemical analysis were delivered within 48 hours
of collection to laboratory. The sampling was done
in the pre and post monsoon season of 2012. The
summary of values of various parameters is given
in Table 1.
The cluster analysis result is presented by
dendrogram (Figure 8), in which these 8 parameters
are grouped and their proximity of association is
shown.
The 2 methods were used to calculate WQI in the
study area in which both are derived from empirical
formulas used by many authors.
GIS Geo-data base
A map showing sampling points (Figure 1) was
generated using the grid point generation toll in Arc
GIS version 9.2 using the study area boundary map
which was scanned, geo referenced and digitized.
After the grid was generated in Arc GIS, the
sampling points were transferred to GPS and taken
to the study area for sample collection. The water
samples were collected and analyzed for different
physico-chemical parameters and then used for
calculation of WQI.
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 Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43

The different locations of the sampling points were introduced in GIS software through point layer. Each
sample point was assigned a unique code and stored in the attribute table. The geo-database was used
to generate the spatial distribution maps of WQI. The present study used the Inverse Distance Weighting
(IDW) method for spatial interpolation of WQI as IDW is an interpolation technique in which interpolated
estimates are made based on values at nearby locations weighted only by distance from the interpolation
location (Naoum and Tsanis, 2004)

Table 1: Statistical summary of physico-chemical parameters of samples in the study area.

Range of value Pre Monsoon Range of value Post Monsoon
Parameters Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum
Temperature (°C) 28.2 33.7 16.4 17.8
Colour (Hazen unit) 0 20 0 10
Turbidity (NTU) 0 10 0 6
pH 6.7 8.2 6.7 8.5
Nitrate as NO3- (mg/l) 5 790 2 1803
Nitrite as NO2- (mg/l) 0.01 0.3 0.01 0.032
Fluoride as F- (mg/l) 0.1 13.6 0.1 21
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS ) (mg/l) 90 11400 140 13600

Calculation of the WQI Table 2: Acceptable limit of parameters

Physico-Chemical Standard permissible Value
Case I: parameter (s) (IS:10500)
Temperature (°C) 27
The parameter’s standard range (Acceptable limit
Colour (Hazen unit) 5
by IS/WHO) is given in Table 2 and it is used to
Turbidity (NTU) 10
calculate the WQI for the study area. pH 6.5-8.5
8 physico-chemical parameters consisting of Nitrate as NO3- (mg/l) 45
Temperature, Colour, Turbidity, pH, Nitrate as NO3-, Nitrite as NO2- (mg/l) 0.01
Nitrite as NO2-, Fluoride as F-, and TDS were Fluoride as F- (mg/l) 0.6-1.2
TDS (mg/l) 500
considered in the calculation of the WQI. Water
Quality Index (WQI) calculation involves three
stages. The equations used in it are mentioned Table 3: Relative weight of parameters
above from B1 to B3. The spatial distribution of the Chemical parameters
Weight given Relative Weight
(Wi) (RW)
quality index for both monsoons is shown in Figure
Temperature (°C) 1 0.0625
3a and 3b respectively.
Colour (Hazen unit) 0 0
Case II: Turbidity (NTU) 0 0
pH 2 0.125
The weight of 1-5 depending on the values of the Nitrate as NO3- (mg/l) 5 0.3125
parameters are given. If the difference between Nitrite as NO2- (mg/l) 1 0.0625
the value and the acceptable value range is low, Fluoride as F- (mg/l) 3 0.1875
then the weight of 1 is given and if the difference TDS (mg/l) 4 0.25
is high than the weight is 5. The Weight (w) has ΣWi = 16, ΣRW = 1.000
been assigned according to its concentration and
relative importance in the overall quality of water for Results and Discussion
drinking purposes (Table 2). The relative weight has
Table 1 shows the range of various parameters in
also been calculated and given in Table 3.
the study area. The main data indicates the average
The following 8 physico-chemical parameters were values of pH as 7.4 and 7.5 for Pre Monsoon and
considered in the calculation of WQI: Temperature, Post Monsoon which indicates a basic (alkaline)
Colour, Turbidity, pH, Nitrate as NO3-, Nitrite as NO2-, condition of the groundwater samples. TDS indicates
Fluoride as F-, and TDS. In it, a few of the locations the different types of minerals present the in water,
had negative values of WQI which were treated as and from this study, it indicates an average value of
zero as no value is below zero in any of the quality 2196.52 mg/l in pre monsoon and 2077.55 mg/l in
indexes. post monsoon. The mean value of TDS is above the
A set of equations from A1 to A5 were used to recommended limit of IS: 10500. the anions reveal
calculate the WQI. Figures 5a and 5b show the average values of Nitrate as NO3- (151.15 mg/l in
spatial distribution of the water quality indexes in pre monsoon and 175.57 mg/l in post monsoon),
the study area for both monsoons. Nitrite as NO2- (0.02 mg/l in pre monsoon and 0.01

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Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43

in post monsoon), Fluoride as F- (0.91 mg/l in pre monsoon and 1.45 mg/l in post monsoon duration)
respectively. All the mean concentrations of the parameters are above IS: 10500 recommended limits
except Colour and Turbidity. The mean values of anions reveal an order of abundance as NO3- > F- > NO2-.

Figure 3a: Spatial Distribution of Water Quality Index (case I) in the study area for Pre Monsoon duration.

Figure 3b: Spatial Distribution of Water Quality Index (case I) in the study area for Post Monsoon duration.

Table 4: Water quality classification standard

Value Range WQI Status
0-50 Good
51-100 Bad
>100 Very Bad

Figure 4: Water Quality Index (case I) of

groundwater samples location for Pre & Post
Monsoon duration.

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 Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43

Figure 5a: Spatial Distribution of Water Quality Index (case II) in the study area for Pre Monsoon duration.

Figure 5b: Spatial Distribution of Water Quality Index (case II) in the study area for Post Monsoon duration.
Table 5: Computed values of WQI in the study Area The groundwater quality index assessed in Case I from
WQI Remarks Pre Monsoon Post Monsoon the groundwater quality data values range from 0-543
Case I and 0- 789 during pre and post monsoon respectively
0-50: west part and (Table 5). Based on the standard classification (Table
few small patches 4), the groundwater quality status ranges from good
< 50 Good 0-50: west part
developed in west
part to very bad. Figures 3a and 3b classify the WQI
51-100: few small 51-100: small values into three groundwater quality zones (good,
51-100 poor patches in study patches in study bad and very bad) and provide the spatial extent of
area area
it. The areas covered by the very good water quality
Very 101-643: complete 101-789: complete
>100 lie in the western portion of the study area and are
poor area area
Case II confined to a very local portion. The bad quality water
0-50: west part, 0-50: west part, in is present in small patches in the rest of the area.
< 50 Good few local patch NE small local patch The remaining area have very bad water quality. After
randomly distributed developed
50-100: negligible
rain, a local patch of good water quality in the western
51-100 poor 50-100: shift in area portion developed. The distribution of wells in the
area

>100
Very 101-2729: complete 101-3279: complete value range of the quality index is visible in Figure 4
poor area area and displays the changes during 2 different seasons.

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Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43

The water quality index assessed in Case II from
the groundwater quality data; values ranged from
0-2729 and 0-3279 during pre and post monsoon
respectively (Table 5). In this case the water quality
is categorized into good, bad and very bad zones.
Figures 5a and 5b showing the spatial extent of the
WQI, indicating that the higher values of WQI are
associated with the Churu district, and have been
found to be mainly due to nitrate and total dissolved
solids. During pre monsoon, the western part of the
study area has good quality water. Some very local
patches of good WQI are randomly present in the
area. The bad quality index has a negligible area
and only makes a thin boundary between the good
and very bad WQI region. The rest of the area has
very bad water quality. While, during post monsoon
the local patches of good water quality developed
in NE of the study area. For the rest of region
conditions remained very similar to that of the pre
monsoon. The bad quality area slightly increases
from pre monsoon to post monsoon. Figure 6 show
the variation of distribution of wells in the study area
and where they stand on the WQI scale.
The value range for water quality index categories
has been assigned by checking the weight-age given
to wells in the quality index calculation i.e. the WQI =0
to 50 means the water is safe for human consumption
and the values exceeding 50 are not safe for
consumption as all parameters are crossing specified
limits of water quality for human consumption.
The results in Table 5 show that every method
would generate a different value range of water
quality indexes. It would be difficult to standardize
the value range of WQI. In this work we have shown
that one equation reduces the value range while the
other increases it.
The comparison of the 2 different WQI derived
from two different sets of equations shows that the
pattern is the same for water quality during pre and
post monsoon from one set of eq. (The location
having low values of WQI from one set of eq. also
has low WQI from another set of eq.; but there is
offset present between them). The location having
a high WQI value in Case 1 also showed high WQI
values in Case 2 (Fig 7a and 7b).

Figure 7a: Water Quality Index (case 1 & Case 2)

Figure 6: Water Quality Index (case II) of of groundwater samples location for Pre Monsoon
groundwater samples location for Pre & Post duration.
Monsoon duration.

The hierarchal cluster analysis was applied to

identify the processes controlling groundwater
chemistry. The dendrogram (Figure 8) displayed
two clusters. Cluster 1 comprised of turbidity,
colour and temperature showing close linkage
and Cluster 2 comprised of TDS, Nitrate, Nitrite,
Fluoride and pH and joined with the same Cluster
1. This cluster is interpreted as anthropogenic Figure 7b: Water Quality Index (case 1 & Case 2)
contamination of water, which might be related to of groundwater samples location for Post Monsoon
natural processes. duration.

Table 6: Correlation matrix (Pearson) of physic-chemical parameters in the study area

Temp Colour Turbidity ph NO3- NO2- F- TDS
Temp 1
Colour -0.1330 1
Turbidity 0.10415 0.9560 1
ph -0.4116 -0.0115 -0.0057 1
NO3 -
0.0304 -0.0759 -0.0769 -0.00073 1
NO2- 0.0516 0.0059 0.0587 0.06142 0.2589 1
F- -0.281 -0.0378 -0.0398 0.3825 0.25537 0.0771 1
TDS -0.3687 -0.0728 -0.05803 0.1955 0.4742 0.2234 0.2533 1

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 Singh et al. Water Research and Management, Vol. 5, No. 4 (2015) 35-43
Figure 8: Dendrogram of groundwater
samples Parameter.
Table 6 indicated positive correlation among the
physico-chemical parameters ranging from 0.0059
to 0.956. Clustering indicates that turbidity is
associated with colour, TDS is associated with Nitrate
and Fluoride is associated with pH. The negative
correlation in cluster might indicating the different
origin. The correlation matrix shows that there is a
direct relation between the following, viz. Turbidity and
Colour, TDS and Nitrate and Fluoride and pH. Other
parameters have either low correlation or negative
correlation. From this high correlation of parameters
we can suggest the elements of correlation matrix
as having a value of more than 0.35 which are
responsible for the bad water quality of water in the
study area. Only 3 elements of the correlation matrix
from 8 are responsible for bad water quality.
Conclusion
The calculated WQI from the empirical formulas for
the groundwater samples range from 0 to 789 in one
case, and in another case the value ranges from 0
to 3,279 and falls within the Good (Acceptable),
Bad and Very Bad (Rejected) class. Every method
generated a different index range. The geographical
information system delineated the area into good
to very poor potential areas of groundwater quality
and therefore proved to be a useful tool in mapping
groundwater quality and analyzing the vulnerability
of the population associated with bad quality.
Hierarchal cluster analysis identified anthropogenic
contamination and natural mineralization as the major
processes controlling groundwater chemistry. It also
helped in minimizing the parameters responsible for
water quality. It is recommended that groundwater
quality monitoring should be encouraged in order
to ensure groundwater quality protection and
conservation. The pattern of WQI for the study area is
very similar from the 2 different set of equations used.
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