Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 3 (2021) 125–130

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Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology

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Vulnerability analysis of the groundwater quality around Vellalore-Kurichi

landfill region in Coimbatore
⁎
Lakshmi Priya Thyagarajan a, , J. Jeyanthi a, D. Kavitha b
a
Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, India
b
Department of Chemistry, Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Groundwater resources are explored and exploited to their maximum for the use in households, industries and other
Received 15 October 2020 domestic activities. It becomes sensible to recognize its importance in quantity view point and take necessary measures
Received in revised form 12 November 2020 to maintain its purity. The present study assesses the vulnerability of the groundwater resources to pollution due to the
Accepted 2 December 2020
plume movement from the nearby landfill region of Vellalore-Kurichi village in Coimbatore. This gives better under-
Available online 27 January 2021
standing of the groundwater pollution with the spatial maps outlined from the Arc GIS software. The physico-chemical
Keywords:
parameters like pH, EC, resistivity, alkalinity, total hardness, total dissolved solids, turbidity, salinity, DO, BOD, COD,
Groundwater chlorides, sulphates, nitrates were analysed and the WQI values were derived from the above parameters to quantify
Water quality index the pollution potential in this area. The groundwater from Konavaikalpalayam, Aathumedu, Mettu-thottum and
Contamination Rukmaniammal road are the most affected by contamination. The plume movement is suspected towards the North
Plume movement and North-western side of the landfill region. This may be due to the presence of slope towards the North-western
GIS side of the landfill. The most of the samples come under the category of poor water and so the water is unfit for
Spatial maps even domestic purposes. The results stresses the need for the local bodies to take necessary action to prevent contam-
ination of the groundwater in this region by following a holistic approach to prevent further contamination.

1. Introduction
Water is elixir of life, everything in this world is sustained by water.
Groundwater forms precious source of water for the households, irrigation
and industries in most of the parts of India, especially in hard rock terrains
like Coimbatore region. Coimbatore has become one of the industrialised as
well as economicially vibrant districts of Tamilnadu. The third largest city
of the state and known as the textile capital of South India or the Manchester
of the South. Coimbatore's geographical position is between 76″ 40′ and 77″
30′ degrees from the eastern longitude and 10″ 10′ and 11″ 30′ degrees of the
northern latitude. It has an area of 7469 Sq Km and is bordered on the north
by the Nilgiris, on the south by the Dindugal district, on the east by the Erode
district and on the west by the State of Kerala. All year round, Coimbatore
enjoys a very great climate, helped by the fresh breeze flowing through the
25 kms long Palakkad gap, as its topography is in the rain shadow region of
the Western ghats. The region's rich black soil has contributed to the thriving
agricultural industry of Coimbatore and, in fact, the successful growth of cot-
ton has served as the basis for the establishment of its famous textile industry.
The Coimbatore climate system is part of the tropical wet and dry cli-
mate, with the northeast monsoon causing the wet season to last between
October and December. Heavy rains are also encountered mainly during
the monsoon seasons, with an annual rainfall of 618 mm. The temperature
ranges from 24 °C (minimum mean) to 35 °C (maximum mean). The district
of Coimbatore is fed with water from Amaravathi, Noyal, Bhavani and
Siruvani [1,2], while the city's primary water source is Siruvani (the world's
second purest water body). Weathered and broken Granite Gneisses, Gran-
ites, Charnockites and other related rocks are represented by hard consoli-
dated crystalline rocks. In the weathered mantle, ground water persists
under phreatic conditions and in the broken areas under semi-confined con-
ditions. The wells ranged in depth from 7 to 45 m bgl.
The groundwater table levels had seen an alarming dip in the recent
past due to indiscriminate withdrawal of water following unrestrained
urbanisation and lack of recharge. Coimbatore, with a population ap-
proaching to about 1.8 million is estimated to generate about 1300 metric
tonnes of garbage daily. Depending on the economic status of the popula-
tion concerned, the regular per capita generation of solid waste in

⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lakshmipriya95@gmail.com (L.P. Thyagarajan).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enceco.2020.12.002
2590-1826/© 2021 The Author. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
L.P. Thyagarajan et al.
Fig. 1. Tamilnadu State Map with inset map of the Study Area.
Coimbatore varies from around 800 g and includes mainly waste from
households, medical and industries establishments. Indiscriminate dump-
ing of waste has led to the contamination of the groundwater resources to
large extent leading to the depletion followed by contamination to its
peak. The city's garbage which is of mixed nature (mostly consisting of
market waste of wet nature and non-biodegradable waste of dry nature)
reaches the dump yard in Vellalore-Kurichi region on daily basis. Only
40% of the city's waste is subjected to segregation prior composting,
while the rest is simply dumped in non-engineered landfill region. The
dump yard has an engineered sanitary landfill part, where the inerts
from the segregation process are usually diverted. The present study
aims at throwing light on the quality of ground water in Vellalore-
Kurichi village in Coimbatore city mainly around the landfill region.
Landfills pose a major threat to groundwater resources [2].Waste placed
in landfills are either subjected to groundwater underflow or precipitation
infiltration and collect a number of organic and inorganic compounds as
water percolates through the waste, flowing out of the waste to settle at
the bottom of the landfill. The resulting polluted water is called ‘leachate’
and can percolate into the soil by contaminating the groundwater table
[3,5], causing a number of problems. This work explores the possible
zones of contamination around the landfill region owing to leachate
percolation.
Fig. 2. Dump yard region -Vellalore Kurichi Village of Coimbatore.
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Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 3 (2021) 125–130
2. Methodology
The groundwater samples were collected in 5 l polypropylene cans that
were rinsed out three times before collection of the sample, transported to
the laboratory and processed for further analysis at 4 °C. In order to reflect
land-use patterns, topography, and areas close to dumping sites, a random
sampling approach had be used to collect the groundwater samples with
due consideration. A total of 23 samples were collected for monitoring pur-
pose from the nearby households of the Vellalore-Kurichi village at about a
radius of 2.5 km from the landfill region. The physicochemical analyses
were carried out basing on standard methods [4]. The data so obtained
were analysed using Arc GIS 9.3 (Geological Information Systems) soft-
ware, to study the spatial distribution of the water quality index of the
groundwater samples collected around the landfill area and also to analyze
the intensity of pollution through weighted analysis. This study suggests the
possible strategies to be developed for better control of pollutants and for
taking preventive measures by the local governing bodies.
2.1. Study area
Vellalore dump site has been selected for the present study. Vellalore is
a village panchayat in Coimbatore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
L.P. Thyagarajan et al. Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 3 (2021) 125–130

Fig. 3. Satellite Map of the landfill region with labels.

It is at 13 km east of the heart of the city Coimbatore, situated on the south-

ern bank of the River Noyyal. This dump site (Figs. 1, 2 & 3) has been func-
tional since 20 years. Nearly 800 TPD of waste generated in the city is being
transported to Vellalore yard, which extends to about 254 acres of which
181 acres of land is loaded with dumped waste. Now the corporation has
taken steps to bring the whole waste to 24 acres of dump site for closure
of the landfill. This dump site is filled with 11 m height and packed with Fig. 4. Map of the Study Area with sampling locations.
13,00,000 m3 of waste and provided with leachate collection systems.
points (map co-ordinates) (Fig. 4) were noted down for mapping the loca-
2.2. Sampling locations tion in the Arc GIS software.

The sampling was done initially in the south eastern side of the dump
yard region, the sampling location (Anbu Nagar backside) i.e. the sampling
points G1 and G2 showed no visual contamination in terms of colour in the
groundwater samples, the same was confirmed with the public opinion. We
came to know that the groundwater samples were visually good which
matched the public opinion, so we started to continue with sampling proce-
dure by extending towards the west side and north western side of the
dump yard region. The sampling was almost done in random manner to
confirm the quality of the ground water. The sampling was done for 23
groundwater samples collected from around the dump yard boundary (la-
belled as G0, G1…G22) (Table 1). The sampling locations and the GPS
2.3. Water quality index (WQI)
It is defined as a method of rating that gives the composite effect of the
individual water quality parameters on the overall quality of the water.
WQI is measured from a human consumption perspective. WQI aids in
assessing the quality of water and its suitability for drinking by assessing
its quality index. For the estimation of the WQI, the criteria for drinking
purposes were considered. In this approach, the weight for different param-
eters of water quality is believed to be inversely proportional to the recom-
mended standards for the corresponding parameters [5].

Table 1
Details of the Sampling locations with sample codes.
SNO AREA LAT LONG TYPE_OF_WELL DEPTH_FEET

G0 LEFT OF SANITARY LANDFILL GATE 2 10.95906 76.99741 BW 1000

G1 VADIVU NAGAR 10.95013 77.00371 BW 500
G2 VADIVU NAGAR 10.95124 77.0021 BW 250
G3 NETHAJI NAGR 10.95376 76.99458 BW 300
G4 WEST MAHALINGAPURAM 10.96478 77.00215 BW 300
G5 RUKMANIAMMAL ROAD 10.96348 77.0036 BW 180
G6 MAHALINGA PURAM 10.96191 77.00557 BW 250
G7 MAHALINGA PURAM 10.96315 77.0083 BW 300
G8 KONAVAIKAL PALAYAM 10.96367 77.0011 BW-GOVT 1000
G9 KONAVAIKAL PALAYAM 10.96189 77.00072 OW 100
G10 METTU THOTTAM 10.96035 76.99489 BW 300
G11 SIDHANNAPURAM 10.96088 76.99068 BW 600
G12 NAADAAR COLONY- RESIDENCE 10.96699 76.98948 BW 250
G13 AATHUMEDU -ROADSIDE 10.97425 76.99633 BW-GOVT 1000
G14 ELGI NAGAR-RESIDENCE 10.96849 77.00513 BW 150
G15 AARUTHRA NAGAR-RESIDENCE 10.97115 77.00577 BW 100
G16 NGR NAGAR-RESIDENCE 10.97224 77.00348 BW 500
G17 KONAVAIKAL PALAYAM EXTENSION-AMMA BUILDINGS 10.96916 77.01151 BW-GOVT 1500
G18 KANJIKONAMPALAYAM-RESIDENCE 10.9679 77.01759 BW 250–400
G19 KANJIKONAMPALAYAM-FARM HOUSE 10.96185 77.01782 BW 650
G20 K.K.NAGAR -RESIDENCE 10.94822 77.00835 BW 150
G21 ANBU NAGAR 10.95068 76.99703 BW 600
G22 SRIRAM NAGAR 10.95615 76.99377 BW 250

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L.P. Thyagarajan et al. Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 3 (2021) 125–130

Table 2 Table 4
Relative weight of chemical parameters. WQI values depicting the quality of the groundwater samples around the Landfill
Parameters BIS stds weight (wi) Relative weight (Wi)
region.
Sample AREA WQI Quality
pH 7.5 5 0.147
code
EC (μmhos/cm) 250 2 0.059
TDS 500 5 0.147 G0 LEFT OF SANITARY LANDFILL GATE 2 294.11 Very POOR
Turbidity 10 3 0.088 G1 VADIVU NAGAR 119.68 POOR
Resistivity 500 2 0.059 G2 VADIVU NAGAR 153.75 POOR
salinity 1 1 0.029 G3 NETHAJI NAGR 141.94 POOR
Alkalinity (mg/l) 200 1 0.029 G4 WEST MAHALINGAPURAM 186.49 POOR
total hardness 300 2 0.059 G5 RUKMANIAMMAL ROAD 243.58 Very POOR
DO 5 5 0.147 G6 MAHALINGA PURAM 179.51 POOR
BOD 1 1 0.029 G7 MAHALINGA PURAM, RAF Road 100.76 Almost Good
COD (mg/l) 10 1 0.029 G8 KONAVAIKAL PALAYAM 232.42 Very POOR
Chlorides 250 2 0.059 G9 KONAVAIKAL PALAYAM, Near Temple 231.54 Very POOR
Sulphates 200 2 0.059 G10 METTU THOTTAM 223.86 Very POOR
Nitrate 45 2 0.059 G11 SIDHANNAPURAM 149.55 POOR
G12 NAADAAR COLONY- RESIDENCE 150.87 POOR
G13 AATHUMEDU -ROADSIDE-Near Noyyal river 247.14 Very POOR
G14 ELGI NAGAR-RESIDENCE 299.06 Very POOR
For each parameter, which is measured as the percentage of the concen-
G15 AARUTHRA NAGAR-RESIDENCE 229.75 POOR
tration of a component divided by its standard concentration, as per the BIS G16 NGR NAGAR-RESIDENCE 189.44 POOR
guidelines, a consistency ranging scale (qi) has been defined. qi = (Ci/Si) * G17 KONAVAIKAL PALAYAM EXTENSION-AMMA 224.63 Very POOR
100, where Ci is the concentration of each chemical component in the BUILDINGS
G18 KANJIKONAMPALAYAM-RESIDENCE 111.96 POOR
water samples tested (mg/l) and Si (mg/l) is the normal concentration for
G19 KANJIKONAMPALAYAM-FARM HOUSE 183.11 POOR
drinking water in India [6]. For each chemical parameter, which is then G20 K.K.NAGAR -RESIDENCE 134.01 POOR
used to evaluate the WQI using the following equation, the SLi (sub index G21 ANBU NAGAR 105.18 Almost Good
of the ith parameter) is first determined: SLi = Wi* qi,WQI = Sum (SLi) G22 SRIRAM NAGAR 117.8 POOR
(Table 2).
WQI values are classified into five types:
WQI < 50 -Excellent. nitrate, chloride, sulfate, dissolved oxygen, BOD and COD. One of the
WQI <100 - Good. most significant measures of water quality is pH. The pH of drinking
WQI < 200 - Poor. water typically varies from 6.86 to 8.07. All the samples were within the
WQI <300 -Very Poor. permissible limits prescribed by BIS standards. Electrical conductivity
WQI > 300 - Not suitable for drinking purposes. (EC) is a measure of the electrical current conduction capacity of water.
In the detection of water mineralization degree (the ionic dissolved sub-
3. Results and discussion stances), it is a flexible physicochemical parameter. Electrical conductivity
values ranged between 680 μS / cm for the G21 sample and 3921 μS/cm for
By determining the physical and chemical characteristics according to the G13 sample in the study area.
standard methods, the groundwater quality of 23 samples covering the The weight of residue left after a water sample has been evaporated into
study area was identified. They were systematically identified and repre- dryness is measured by TDS in water. Small quantities of organic matter
sented in Table 3. The parameters viz., pH, alkalinity, salinity, total hard- and compounds of inorganic salts dissolved in water are TDS. The amount
ness, resistivity, total dissolved solids, turbidity, electrical conductivity, of TDS varies from 418 mg/l (G18) to 1666.5 mg/l (G0). The TDS value of

Table 3
Physico-chemical Parameters of the groundwater samples.
Sample pH EC μs TDS Turbidity Resistivity Salinity Alkalinity Total BOD COD DO Chlorides Sulphate Nitrate
code PPM ntu ohms % ppm hardness PPM PPM PPM ppm ppm ppm
ppm

G0 6.86 2969 1666.5 0.59 300 6.3 47.5 1124.7 6 256 1.497 757.1 44 0.11
G1 7.62 1978 839.5 0.12 596 3.2 25 508.9 0 0 1.697 34.8 28 0.07
G2 7.5 1575 788 0.32 635 3 30 431.8 4 96 1.697 302.8 41 0.08
G3 7.8 1875 937.8 0.19 533 3.5 32.5 183.8 4 32 1.597 317.7 26 0.09
G4 7.36 1888 942.6 0 530 3.5 12.5 373.1 4 160 1.997 434.4 33 0.10
G5 7.2 3584 1797 0.23 278 6.7 15 1708.4 0 0 1.797 1233.7 37 0.09
G6 7.5 2148 1073 0 466 4 12.5 520 2 96 2.097 590.8 31 0.12
G7 7.24 1270 635.3 0 788 2.4 25 375.6 0 0 1.897 310.3 36 0.12
G8 7.07 2730 1368 0.12 366 5.1 22.5 1265.5 2 32 1.897 928.3 32 0.07
G9 7.24 3403 1702 0.34 294 6.4 15 920.7 0 0 1.69 871.3 34 0.03
G10 7.74 3460 1732 0.28 289 6.5 55 624.2 0 0 1.198 930.8 38 0.07
G11 7.05 1459 728.3 0.13 686 2.7 35 384.2 4 32 1.497 893.6 33 0.10
G12 7.89 1866 933.7 0 536 3.5 40 742.2 2 64 1.098 911.0 33 0.09
G13 7.55 3921 1956 0.393 255 7.4 40 1181.3 0 0 1.597 1221.2 8 0.11
G14 7.18 3279 1641 0.28 305 6.2 25 1528.5 4 256 0.399 789.3 14 0.08
G15 7 2332 1166 0.4 429 4.4 32.5 798.8 2 704 1.597 841.5 8 0.09
G16 7.4 2666 1334 0 375 5.1 35 827.3 2 32 1.697 690.1 10 0.09
G17 7.24 2734 1366 0 366 5.1 25 1264.5 4 96 1.597 697.5 12 0.09
G18 8.07 829.8 415.3 0 1200 1.6 17.5 373.5 2 32 1.797 724.8 12 0.10
G19 7.62 3009 1505 0.11 332 5.7 15 895 0 0 1.897 369.8 9 0.08
G20 6.92 1938 967.6 0.125 516 3.7 15 661.6 0 0 1.597 464.2 17 0.08
G21 7.26 1360 680.2 0.09 735 2.6 27.5 549.7 0 0 1.497 295.4 1 0.10
G22 7.48 1508 753.1 0.11 663 2.8 35 438.2 0 0 1.697 630.5 14 0.11

128
L.P. Thyagarajan et al.
Fig. 5. WQI maps for the sampling locations.
G0 sample collected near the sanitary landfill with in the boundary of the
dump yard showed high value of TDS, while the rest of the study areas
showed low to moderate values. The overall hardness is due to the presence
of Ca and Mg excesses. In order to determine the temporary hardness and
alkalinity, the carbonate and bicarbonate concentrations were useful.
Most samples exceeded the permissible limit of 300 mg/l set by BIS, as
shown by the obtained data. The analysis clearly showed that the overall
hardness varied from 183.8 to 1708.4.The Total Hardness values of
Rukmaniammal street sample (G5) were very high when compared to the
others samples. WQI values were calculated mainly giving weightage to
pH, TDS and DO levels in the groundwater samples. The values were calcu-
lated according to the formula given in the methodology and the values
were tabulated in the Table 4.The WQI values clearly depicted the ground-
water samples - G7 and G21, corresponding to the Mahalingapuram, RAF
road and Anbu nagar were quite safe and good in quality with WQI values
of around 100. The spatial maps of the study area clearly located the posi-
tions of the samples with maximum contamination and line of leachate
movement from the landfill region (Figs. 5 & 6).
4. Conclusions
The study resulted in the qualitative classification of groundwater around
the landfill region, especially the Rukmaniammal lay out was suspected to be
affected with local pollution from landfill. The areas such as Vadivu nagar,
Mahalingapuram-RAF road, Nadar colony, Kanjikonampalayam, K.K.nagar,
Anbu nagar and Sriram nagar showed minimal pollution levels and hence
the water can be used for domestic purposes. The water from
Mahalingapuram-RAF road and Anbu nagar can even be used for drinking
purposes, they fall under good category. The groundwater from
Konavaikalpalayam, Aathumedu, Mettu-thottum and Rukmaniammal
road are the most affected areas. The plume movement is suspected to be
towards the North and North-western side of the landfill region. Most of
the samples come under the category of poor water quality and so the
water is unfit for even domestic purposes. It is the right time to prevent fur-
ther contamination of the groundwater by taking remedial measures to con-
trol the movement of plume from the landfill region. This study throws light
129
Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 3 (2021) 125–130
Fig. 6. WQI maps with contours.
on the intensity of contamination and ticks the alarm to gain the focus of the
local governing bodies for their action.
Credit author statement
The authors express their heartfelt thanks for accepting the paper enti-
tled “Vulnerability analysis of the groundwater quality around Vellalore-
Kurichi landfill region in Coimbatore.
This paper consists of three authors as mentioned below -.
Dr.Lakshmi Priya Thyagarajan –first author
DST Scientist, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu.
The present paper is a part of the work done under the DST-WOS-B pro-
ject funding. This author is the Principal Investigator of the project and re-
ceived the funding from DST. The whole project has been done by this author.
Dr.J. Jeyanthi –second author
Professor and Head of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineer-
ing Department, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu.
Mentor of this Project.
Dr.D. Kavitha – Third author
Assistant Professor,
Department of Chemistry,
Dr. M.G.R Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Technical support for executing the project and in preparation of the
Journal paper.
Acknowledgement
One of the authors (Dr.Lakshmi Priya Thyagarajan) is thankful to the
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and
L.P. Thyagarajan et al. Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 3 (2021) 125–130

Technology, Government of India. Funding ID: DST/DISHA/SoRF-PM/
055/2013(G) for providing necessary funds for executing this project under
Women Scientist (WOS-B) Scheme.
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