See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/322907958

Impact of landuse on groundwater quality of Bangladesh

Article  in  Sustainable Water Resources Management · December 2018

DOI: 10.1007/s40899-018-0230-z

CITATIONS READS

11 1,199

4 authors:

Saleem A. Salman Shamsuddin Shahid

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
16 PUBLICATIONS   374 CITATIONS    359 PUBLICATIONS   8,409 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Morteza Mohsenipour Hamid Asgari

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia University of Tehran
32 PUBLICATIONS   387 CITATIONS    3 PUBLICATIONS   17 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Impacts of climate variability and changes to urban Malaysia View project

Malaysia, Hydrology and Climate View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Saleem A. Salman on 14 March 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Sustainable Water Resources Management
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-018-0230-z

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Impact of landuse on groundwater quality of Bangladesh

Saleem A. Salman1 · Shamsuddin Shahid1 · Morteza Mohsenipour1   · Hamid Asgari1

Received: 20 September 2016 / Accepted: 30 January 2018

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract
Groundwater pollution is a major concern in water resources management across the world. The objective of this study is
to characterize groundwater quality and identify the impact of landuse on groundwater quality of Bangladesh. Total of 113
groundwater samples, collected from shallow aquifers at different locations of Bangladesh were analysed to estimate eight
standard groundwater quality indices namely, sodium absorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percentage (SSP), residual
sodium bi-carbonate (RSBC), permeability index (PI), total hardness (TH), magnesium adsorption ratio (MAR), Kelly’s
ratio (KR) and total dissolved solids (TDS). The results showed that the SAR in groundwater of Bangladesh varies between
1 and 818, SSP between 9 and 99%, RSBC between − 13 and 719 meq/L, PI between 21 and 112%, TH between 233 and
19400 meq/L, MAR between 5 and 74%, KR between 0.06 and 135 meq/L, and TDS in the range of 51–15200 mg/L. Sig-
nificant differences in groundwater quality indices between agricultural and forest lands were observed. The study revealed
that higher amount of total dissolved salt in groundwater was due to sea water intrusion into the coastal aquifer. Relation
between agriculture and groundwater quality suggests that though the nitrate concentration in groundwater was less than
permissible level, it might increase in future due to extensive use of nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers in agriculture.

Keywords  Groundwater quality · Landuse · Statistical analysis · Water quality indices · Geographical information system ·
Bangladesh

Introduction to coastal aquifers due to unsustainable management of

Groundwater sources provide 43% of total water used for
irrigation and 40% of the total drinking water globally (Sie-
bert et al. 2010; Shahid et al. 2017). In many countries of the
world, it is the only source of potable water (Margat and Van
der Gun 2013). In some North African and Middle Eastern
countries, groundwater is sole source of all kinds of water
supply (NGWA 2013). The present trend in groundwater
use indicates that it will continue to play a crucial role in
global water security, agro-economy and people’s livelihood
(Shahid et al. 2014; Singh et al. 2015). However, there is a
growing concern in the recent years on groundwater con-
tamination due to anthropogenic activities. Rapid popula-
tion growth, economic development and urbanization have
directly or indirectly affected groundwater quality in many
countries of the world (Lutz et al. 2010). Sea water intrusion
* Morteza Mohsenipour
mortezamohsenipour@gmail.com
1
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
Skudai, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
groundwater resources is another major factor of ground-
water contamination (Comte et al. 2016). As groundwater
is the major the source of clean water supply, identification
of the causes of groundwater pollution is very important for
protection of this precious resource.
Groundwater quality includes the physical, chemical, and
biological qualities of groundwater (Todd and Mays 2005).
Temperature, turbidity, colour, taste, and odour are the phys-
ical parameters of groundwater quality. Since groundwater
is usually colourless, odourless, and without specific taste,
the main concern with groundwater is its chemical and bio-
logical qualities. The pollutants responsible for degradation
of groundwater quality can be classified into two groups
based on their source namely, natural pollutants and anthro-
pogenic pollutants. Groundwater may be contaminated by
numerous anthropogenic activities (Thamer and Bujang
2004). Pollutants generated by human activities on the land
surface seep into the earth and contaminate groundwater
resources. Therefore, landuse has a direct link to ground-
water contamination.

13
Vol.:(0123456789)
 Sustainable Water Resources Management

Number of studies has been conducted to assess the

impacts of landuse on groundwater quality (Healey 1999;
Chen et al. 2003; Gupta et al. 2005; Kristin and Richard
2005; Zampella et al. 2007; Joarder et al. 2008; Chenini and
Khemiri 2009). Healey (1999) used correlation analysis to
measure the inter-relationship between surface and ground-
water quality. Kristin and Richard (2005) predicted ground-
water nitrate concentration from landuse in Nantucket Island
using samples from 69 wells. They used Tobit and logistic
regressions to estimate the effect of agricultural landuse on
nitrate concentrations in groundwater. Zampella et al. (2007)
assessed the relationships between the chemical properties
of groundwater and landuse patterns in the Mullica river
basin to estimate the thresholds at which significant changes
in water quality occurred.
The major objective of the present study is to assess the
impact of landuse on groundwater quality in Bangladesh.
Agriculture shares a major portion of gross domestic product
(GDP) and plays an important role in economy and liveli-
hood of Bangladesh. The growth of agriculture in recent Fig. 1  Location of groundwater sample collection points
decades has helped the country to achieve food security.
However, excessive use of nitrogen based fertilizes has
increased the risk of groundwater pollution at the same time methods used in the proposed research are described briefly
(Mohsenipour et al. 2015). It is expected that characteriza- in the following section.
tion of groundwater quality and assessment of the impacts Empirical rule was used to assess the quality of groundwa-
of landuse on groundwater quality would help in mitigating ter sample data. The empirical rule states that approximately
planning towards protection of groundwater resources from 95% of the measurements are within the interval of mean ± two
contamination. standard deviation. In the present study, all the groundwater
data were found within this limit.
A total of eight standard water quality indices namely,
sodium absorption ratio (SAR), soluble sodium percentage
Area of the study
(SSP), residual sodium bi-carbonate (RSBC), permeability
index (PI), total hardness (TH), magnesium adsorption ratio
Geographically, Bangladesh is located between latitude:
(MAR), Kelly’s ratio (KR) and total dissolved solids (TDS)
20°34′N–26°38′N and longitude: 88°01′E–92°41′E. Rain-
were calculated from groundwater quality data. Following
fall in Bangladesh varies from 1600 mm in the northwest
equations were used to calculate various groundwater quality
to more than 4400 mm in the northeast. About 75% of rain-
indices:
fall occurs during monsoon (Shahid 2010). Groundwater is
mainly recharged by rainwater during monsoon. Therefore, Na+
SAR = (
groundwater table comes very near to surface in the end of Ca2+ +Mg2+
)1
2 (1)
monsoon and makes it highly vulnerable to pollution. 2

Na + K+ × 100
( − )
Data and methodology SSP = (2)
Ca+2 + Mg+2 + Na+ + K+
Groundwater quality data, collected by British Geological
Survey (BGS) at 113 locations distributed over the country RSBC = HCO−3 − Ca+2 (3)
were downloaded from BGS website. Location of data points
in the map of Bangladesh is shown in Fig. 1. The data were Na + HCO−3
( + )
re-arranged for necessary statistical analysis using statistical PI = × 100 (4)
Ca+2 + Mg+2 + Na+
software. Data were compiled in such a way that they could
also be used for producing map of different groundwater qual-
ity indices using geographical information system (GIS). The TH = Ca+2 + Mg+2 × 50 (5)
( )

13
Sustainable Water Resources Management

Table 1  Summary of groundwater quality indices at 113 locations of

Bangladesh Mg+2 × 100
MAR = (6)
Ca+2 + Mg+2
Parameter Max Min Mean Std. dev
(mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L)
Na+
SAR 818 1 19.4 81.7
KR = (7)
Ca+2 + Mg+2
SSP 99 9 45.2 23.2
RSBC 719 − 13 214.5 151.6
TDS = 0.64 × EC × 106 (mmohs/cm) (8)
[ ]
PI 112 21 59.4 23.6
TH 19,400 233 3785.1 3306.1
The inverse distance interpolation method was used for
MAR 73 5 31.1 13.5
the mapping of groundwater quality indices. Geostatistical
KR 134 0.06 2.9 13.1
analysis tool of ArcMap 9.1 (ESRI 2004) was used for this
TDS 15,200 51 764.8 1824.7
purpose. Inverse distance method is a standard approach

TDS SAR SSP

RSBC PI TH

MAR KR

Fig. 2  Box plots of different groundwater quality indices in Bangladesh

13
 Sustainable Water Resources Management

which is widely used for preparation of surface map from
point measurements.
Multiple-regression and non-parametric correlation
analyses were conducted among various quality parameters
to identify the influence of different factors on groundwa-
ter quality. The aim of those analyses was also to identify
the causes of groundwater quality hazards. Furthermore,
non-parametric Mann–Whitney test was conducted among
the sets of groundwater quality data collected from differ-
ent landuse zones to decipher if there are any differences in
groundwater quality due to landuse.
Results and discussion
Statistical analysis of groundwater quality indices
Impacts of landuse on groundwater quality
Groundwater samples were divided into three classes
namely, urban, agriculture and forest according to their
location. The Mann–Whitney test was conducted among
two sets of data individually at a time to distinguish if
there are any differences in groundwater quality indices
among different zones. Obtained results are summarized
in Table 2. The values in the table indicate the confidence
level of rejection of null hypothesis of similar mean. The
results show significant difference in groundwater quality
indices at 90% level of confidence only between agricul-
ture and forest lands. No significant difference between
urban and agriculture lands was observed. Therefore, it
can be remarked that agricultural activities have changed
groundwater quality indices in Bangladesh.

The groundwater quality indices were calculated at all the

113 sampling locations. Obtained results are summarized in
Table 1. It was found that the average TDS in the groundwa-
ter of Bangladesh is very high. Some of other indices like
SAR and TH were also comparatively high in Bangladesh.
The box plots of different groundwater quality indices
are shown in Fig. 2. The box plots in the figure show that
number of outliers in the positive direction for indices like
TDS, SAR, RSBC, MAR and KR. This means extreme
values of these indices in some locations. As the higher
value of an index represents corresponding quality hazard,
extreme values of these indices mean presence of corre-
sponding groundwater quality hazards in some locations
of Bangladesh.
Multiple regression and correlation analysis
From the box plots, it can be observed that TDS is a major
hazard in groundwater quality of Bangladesh. Therefore,
multiple regression and correlation analysis among the
constituents of TDS were carried out to find the major
constituents of TDS and the cause of TDS hazard in
groundwater quality of Bangladesh. All the constituents
of TDS were used to find the best regression equation that
describes the TDS. The obtained equation is given below:
TDS = 0.131 + 1.168 Cl− + 1.085 HCO3 −
+ 1.107 SO4 2− + 0.753 Na+ + 0.9687 Ca2+
+ 1.661 K+ (9)

Table 2  Confidence level (%) in Landuse types Groundwater quality indices

the differences of groundwater
quality indices among the TDS SAR SSP PI MAR KR
landuse zones
Agriculture and urban 91.6 – – – – –
Agriculture and forest – 99.4 99.3 98.2 92.8 99.3

Table 3  Correlation coefficients TDS Ca2+ Mg2+ Na+ K+ HCO3− Cl− NO3−–N SO42−
between various constituents
of TDS TDS 1
Ca2+ 0.17 1
Mg2+ 0.68 0.46 1
Na+ 0.99 0.06 0.59 1
K+ 0.73 0.17 0.75 0.69 1
HCO3− 0.07 0.57 0.28 − 0.03 0.09 1
Cl− 0.99 0.09 0.65 0.99 0.71 − 0.05 1
NO3−–N 0.01 0.09 0.07 − 0.02 0.32 0.13 − 0.02 1
SO42− 0.08 0.13 0.21 0.05 0.12 − 0.03 0.11 0.11 1

Bold indicates significant at 95% confidence level

13
Sustainable Water Resources Management
Fig. 3  Spatial distribution of eight groundwater quality indices in Bangladesh
The regression Eq. (9) revealed that though nitrate is a
major constituent of TDS, it is not a major cause of high
TDS values in the groundwater of Bangladesh. Nitrate
pollution of groundwater in agricultural land is a major
concern in all over the world (Mohsenipour et al. 2014).
However, agricultural activities have still not changed the
TDS in groundwater of Bangladesh. The correlation coef-
ficients between different constituents of TDS are given
in Table 3. The table shows that N­ a− and C
­ l− are the main
constituents of TDS in the groundwater of Bangladesh. As
origin of NaCl is marine, it can be remarked that sea water
13

intrusion in the coastal aquifer is the main cause of TDS
or salinity hazard in Bangladesh.
Spatial distribution of groundwater quality indices
Spatial distributions of groundwater quality indices in
Bangladesh are shown in Fig.  3. The maps show that
most of the groundwater quality index are very high in
the southern coastal region of Bangladesh. Therefore, it
can be remarked that groundwater quality hazards mostly
occur in the coastal region of Bangladesh. This may be due
to sea water intrusion into the coastal aquifers or may be
due to intensive agriculture or other anthropogenic activi-
ties in the region.
Conclusion
Groundwater quality data, collected from different locations
of Bangladesh were used to map the spatial distribution of
eight standard groundwater quality indices. The index values
were analyzed using various statistical methods to assess the
impacts of landuse on groundwater quality. The box plots
of groundwater quality indices reveal outliers for some of
the indices which indicate groundwater quality hazards in
some locations. Spatial distributions of groundwater qual-
ity indices show that extreme values are mostly located in
the southern coastal areas. Correlation analysis among the
constituents of TDS revealed that sea water intrusion into
the coastal aquifers is the cause of major quality hazards
in the groundwater of Bangladesh (extreme values TDS).
The differences in groundwater quality indices between
agriculture and forest lands indicates that agricultural activ-
ity has changed the groundwater quality of Bangladesh.
Although the results showed that nitrate is not responsible
for high TDS, the differences in groundwater quality indices
between agriculture and forest lands indicates that nitrogen-
based chemical fertilizer used in agriculture can change the
groundwater quality in Bangladesh in future.
References
Chen WL, Kao HL, Yi MK (2003) Application of factor analysis in the
assessment of ground water quality in a blackfoot disease area in
Taiwan. National Taiwan University, Taipei
13
View publication stats
Sustainable Water Resources Management
Chenini I, Khemiri S (2009) Evaluation of ground water quality using
multiple linear regression and structural equation modeling. Int J
Environ Sci Technol 6(3):509–519
Comte JC, Cassidy R, Obando J, Robins N, Ibrahim K, Melchioly S
et al (2016) Challenges in groundwater resource management in
coastal aquifers of East Africa: investigations and lessons learnt
in the Comoros Islands, Kenya and Tanzania. J Hydrol Reg Stud
5:179–199
ESRI (2004) ArcMap 9.1. Environmental Systems Research Institute,
Redlands, California
Gupta AK, Gupta SK, Rashim SP (2005) Statistical analyses of coastal
water quality for a port and harbour region in India. Indian insti-
tute of Technology, India
Healey JF (1999) Statistics: a tool for social research, 5th edn. Wads-
worth publishing Company, Belmont
Joarder MAM, Raihan F, Alam JB, Hasanuzzaman S (2008) Regres-
sion analysis of ground water quality data of Sunamganj District,
Bangladesh. Int J Environ Res 2(3):291–296
Kristin KG, Richard MV (2005) Predicting ground water nitrate con-
centration from land use. Ground Water 43(3):343–352
Lutz A, Thomas JM, Keita M (2010) Effects of population growth
and climate variability on sustainable groundwater in Mali, West
Africa. Sustainability 3(1):21–34
Margat J, Van der Gun J (2013) Groundwater around the world: a geo-
graphic synopsis. CRC Press, Balkema, Leiden
Mohsenipour M, Shahid S, Ebrahimi K (2014) Removal techniques of
nitrate from water. Asian J Chem 26(23):7881–7886
Mohsenipour M, Shahid S, Ebrahimi K (2015) Nitrate adsorp-
tion on clay kaolin: batch tests. J Chem https ​ : //dx.doi.
org/10.1155/2015/39706​9
NGWA (2013) Facts about global groundwater usage: National
Groundwater Association, Westerville
Shahid S (2010) Recent trends in the climate of Bangladesh. Clim Res
42(3):185–193
Shahid S, Wang XJ, Keramat M, Akhter G, Farooq SH, Lubis RF
(2014) Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in ground-
water-dependent irrigation systems in Asian countries. APN Sci
Bull 2014(4):124–126
Shahid S, Alamgir M, Wang X-J, Eslamian S (2017) Impact and adap-
tation to climate change In Dhaka city of Bangladesh. In: Esla-
mian S, Eslamian F A (eds) Hand book of drought and scarcity:
environmental impacts and analysis of drought and water scarcity.
1st edn, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA, pp. 107–123
Siebert S, Burke J, Faurès JM, Frenken K, Hoogeveen J, Döll P et al
(2010) Groundwater use for irrigation—a global inventory. Hydrol
Earth Syst Sci 14:1863–1880
Singh A, Sharma CS, Jeyaseelan AT, Chowdary VM (2015) Spatio–
temporal analysis of groundwater resources in Jalandhar district
of Punjab state, India. Sustain Water Resour Manag 1(3):293–304
Thamer AM, Bujang BKH (2004) Groundwater engineering and tech-
nique. UPM Malaysia press, Serdang
Todd DK, Mays LW (2005) Groundwater hydrology, 3rd edn. Wiley,
Hoboken
Zampella RA, Procopio NA, Lathrop RG, Dow CL (2007) Relationship
of Land-use/Land-cover Patterns and Surface-water Quality in the
Mullica River Basin. J Am Water Res Assoc 43:594–604