Chapter ten
Groundwater
The quality of water is as important as its avail-
able quantity. Rain and snow are the purest
forms of water which undergo many complex
chemical changes after coming in contact with
soil and other rock materials. Man's activities
also have a considerable influence on water
quality.
The problem of groundwater contamination is
widespread especially in developing countries due
to lack of proper sanitary conditions and piped
water supply. In these countries, a large number
of people still use water from shallow dug wells
or ponds and rivers. The WHO estimated that in
1980, about 1320 million (57%) of the develop-
ing World (excluding China) were without a
clean water supply, while 1730 million (75%)
were without adequate sanitation. Keeping
this in view, the United Nations declared the
decade 1981-1990 as the International Decade
of Drinking Water and Sanitation. In India also,
the Federal Government has launched a pro-
gramme of Drinking Water Mission to provide
safe drinking-water.
10.1 Expressing water analysis data
The concentration of the dissolved inorganic
constituents in water is expressed in ionic form,
while those salts which occur in undissociated
or colloidal form are reported as oxides or as
an uncombined element. For example, the
B. B. S. Singhal et al., Applied Hydrogeology of Fractured Rocks
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1999
qualityand
contamination
sodium concentration is expressed as cation
Na", iron is reported as the element Fe, and sil-
icon as oxide sial'
The concentrations of dissolved salts or ions
in groundwater are usually expressed in parts
per million (ppm) by weight . The parts per thou-
sand unit is commonly used in reporting the
composition of sea water. Parts per billion (ppb)
or parts per trillion (ppt) are used in reporting
the concentration of trace elements. In weight-
per-volume units, the concentration of ions is
expressed in milligrams per litre (mg 1-1). The
ppm and mg 1-1 units are numerically almost the
same, if the density of water is nearly 1.0, and
the concentration of dissolved solids is less than
7000 mg 1-1. In highly mineralized water, the
conversion can be made by equation (10.1).
Parts per million (ppm) = Milligram per litrel
Specific gravity of the water
(10.1)
A unit which is more convenient for geo-
chemical studies, is equivalent per million (epm)
or milligram equivalents per litre (meq 1-1). The
concentration of an ion in meq 1-1 can be deter -
mined by multiplying mg 1-1 value with the rec-
iprocal of its combining (equivalent) weight.
The concentration of an ion in meq 1-1 is des-
ignated by putting symbol gamma (n before the
chemical symbol, viz. r Ca. This unit gives a
213
Groundwater quality and contamination
better idea of the chemical character of water
and is also of help in ascertaining the accuracy
and completeness of chemical analysis.
The accuracy of chemical analysis of water
samples can be checked by calculating the cation-
anion balance, as the sum of the major cations
should be equal to the sum of major anions
expressed in meq l'. If it is not so, the analysis
is either erroneous or incomplete. The percentage
error i.e. 'ion-balance error' (e), can be deter-
mined by equation (10.2) (Matthess, 1982)
LyC- Lya
e=---'---'-- (10.2)
Lyc+Lya
where yc represents the cation sum and ya the
anion sum in meq 1-1. In general the value of e
should be less than 5% and certainly less than
10%. In this procedure, colloidal or suspended
matter such as AI203 and Si0 2 is not included.
10.2 Isotopic composition
Natural water contains mainly hydrogen (H) of
mass l(lH) and oxygen (0) of mass 16 (l60).
In addition, it also contains small amounts of
deuterium eH), tritium eH), and isotopes of
oxygen (l70 and 18 0 ). The relative abundance
of these isotopes is given in Table 10.1. Of the
six isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen (lH, 2H,
3H, 16 0 , 170 and 18 0 ), five are stable, while tri-
tium eH) is radioactive with a half-life of
12.3 y. The various isotopes of hydrogen and
oxygen combine to form 18 types of water mol-
ecules. The common water molecules are
1H2 16 0 2H 16 0 3H 16 0 1H 170 and 1H 18 0
' 2' 2' 2 2'
Water with isotopic composition 1H/60 and
molecular weight of 18 forms 99.8% of the
total water on the Earth while the proportion
of heavy water 2H2160 is only about 0.3%0
(Matthess, 1982).
Isotopic analysis of water is of importance in
hydrology as it can provide the history and ori-
gin of water. For example, surface water with
an abundance of heavy isotopes would indicate
214
T ABLE 10 .1 Relative abundance of hydrogen and
oxygen isotopes in natural waters (after UNESCO,
1984b)
Isotope Rleative abundance, Half-life
(%)
IH 99 .985 stable
2H 0.015 stable
3H Trace 12.3 yr
16
0 99 .76 stable
17
0 0.04 stable
18
0 0.20 stable
partial evaporation. Radioactive isotopes like
tritium are of help in knowing the relative ages
and rate of recharge of groundwater. Some of
the applications of isotopes in groundwater
hydrology are given in sections 3.5 and 17.1.3.
Readers mayaiso refer to IAEA (1983) .
10.3 Dissolved constituents
The relative abundance of various elements in
groundwater mainly depends upon their chem-
ical mobil ity. The mobility of an element in the
hydrosphere is determined by the solubility of
its various compounds, the tendency of ion
towards adsorption and base exchange, and the
degree to which it is bound in the biosphere.
The different behaviour of various elements
from the point of view of their hydrochemical
mobility is given in Table 10.2 where a com-
parison of the distribution of common elements
in igneous and sedimentary rocks is made with
their distribution in fresh groundwater and sea
water.
Silicon, aluminum and iron which are most
abundant in igneous rocks have low mobility
in the hydrosphere. Chlorine which is relatively
scarce in the Earth's crust is very mobile and
widespread in the hydrosphere. Sodium is more
mobile than potassium although both occur in
almost equal amounts in the igneous rocks,
wh ich form primary source material (Table
10.2).
The various chemical constituents, based on