Environmental Research 204 (2022) 111729

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Environmental Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envres

Groundwater quality assessment for irrigation by adopting new suitability

plot and spatial analysis based on fuzzy logic technique
Chidambaram S. a, Prasanna M.V. b, Venkatramanan S. c, *, Nepolian M. d, Pradeep K. e,
Banajarani Panda d, Thivya C. d, Thilagavathi R. d
a
Water Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait
b
Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, Malaysia, CDT 250, 98009 Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
c
Department of Disaster Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630003, Tamilnadu, India
d
Department of Earth sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamilnadu, India
e
School of Applied Natural Sciences (SoANS), Adama Science & Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

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

Keywords: This study was focused on identifying the region suitable for agriculture-based, using new irrigation groundwater
Irrigation water quality quality plot and its spatio-temporal variation with fuzzy logic technique in a geographic information system
Fuzzy GIS (GIS) platform. Six hundred and eighty groundwater samples were collected during pre, southwest, northeast,
New irrigation suitability plot
and post monsoon periods. A new ternary plot was also attempted to determine the irrigation suitability of water
NPK fertilizers
Geochemistry
by considering four essential parameters such as sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), permeability index (PI), Sodium
South India percentage (Na %), and electrical conductivity (EC). The derived ternary plot was the most beneficial over other
available plots, as it incorporated four parameters, and it differs from the US Salinity Laboratory (USSL) plot,
such that the groundwater with higher EC could also be used for irrigation purposes, depending on the Na%. The
ternary plot revealed that the groundwater predominantly manifested good to moderate category during post,
northeast, and southwest monsoons. The assessment with the amount of fertilizer used during the study period
showed that the NPK fertilizers were effectively used for irrigation during monsoon periods. Spatial maps on EC,
Kelly’s ratio, Mg hazard, Na%, PI, potential salinity (PS), SAR, residual sodium carbonate (RSC), and soluble
sodium percentage (SSP) were prepared for each season using fuzzy membership values, integrated for each
season. A final suitability map derived by an overlay of all the seasonal outputs has identified that the
groundwater in the western and the eastern part of the study area are suitable for agriculture. The study rec­
ommends cultivation of groundwater-dependent short-term crops, along the western and northern regions of the
study area during the pre-monsoon season.

1. Introduction 2012). The unsustainable extraction level of groundwater exceeded that

Agriculture is an important part of India’s political and social
economy. Most of the agricultural processes are mainly dependent on
irrigation. Groundwater has served as a significant source for irrigation
in several countries, where rainfall drainage and river systems are not
adequate. The increased use of groundwater for irrigation could lead to
over abstraction or exploitation of groundwater resources meaning that
groundwater levels fall, water becomes scarce. From 1980, the levels of
groundwater have declined from 8m below ground level (mbgl) to 16
mbgl in northwestern India and from 1 to 8 mbgl in the remaining parts
of India (Werner Aeschbach-Hertig and Tom Gleeson, 2012; Sekhri,
of the recharge rate, thereby, resulting in depletion of groundwater re­
sources (Dhawan Vibha, 2017). It is worth noting that irrigation requires
adequate supply of good quality water, governed by dissolved ions
(Munesh Kumari and Rai, 2020). The hydrochemistry of water can be
used for determining the status of groundwater quality, pollution, and
the geochemical processes (Venkataraman et al. 2015; Adithya et al.,
2020; Sivakarun et al., 2020). Various ions ionic concentrations, of
major cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+); anions (Cl− , HCO3, SO42− , NO3− ,
PO43− , H4SiO4); and heavy metals are used as indicators for drinking
water purposes (Atafar et al., 2008; Chidambaram et al., 2008; Prasanna
et al., 2010; Thivya et al., 2013). The ionic composition of water governs

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: csabarathinam@kisr.edu.kw (C. S.), geoprasanna@gmail.com (P. M.V.), venkatramanansenapathi@gmail.com (V. S.).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111729
Received 10 February 2021; Received in revised form 17 May 2021; Accepted 8 July 2021
Available online 31 August 2021
0013-9351/© 2021 Published by Elsevier Inc.
C. S. et al.
the parameters considered for irrigation purposes, as they affect soil
properties and crop yield (Singh et al., 2009). The irrigation quality
indices are dependent on the concentration of dissolved ions in water,
which play a key role in assessing their suitability for irrigation purposes
(Singh et al., 2015). Moreover, hydrogeochemical plots are used to
identify the general hydrogeochemical behavior of groundwater. Glob­
ally, the quality of groundwater is mostly influenced by increased pop­
ulation; climate change; and anthropogenic activities, such as
agriculture, mining, industrial effluents, over exploitation of ground­
water, seawater intrusion, etc. (Shrestha et al., 2020; Anand and Kar­
unanidhi, 2020). Application of fertilizers could lead to groundwater
pollution. Evidently, in the recent years, poor quality of water used for
irrigation has become a matter of concern (Gautam et al., 2016; Nem­
cic-Jurec et al., 2017).
The resilience of groundwater mapping, which is explained as the
capacity of groundwater system to react to either long-term impacts,
such as climate change or short-term impacts, such as drought, can be an
effective tool for groundwater resource management (NGWA, 2016).
Mapping of groundwater quality is vital to identify and manage the
regions suitable for different purposes especially and particularly, irri­
gation. The temporal studies on spatial distribution of irrigation suit­
ability parameters will aid to identify the groundwater quality and the
regions for direct utility without water treatment and/or sustainable
remediation approaches (Kumar et al., 2019; Cordier et al., 2020). In
particular, groundwater quality mapping has been successfully used to
manage the coastal groundwater resource (Thilagavathi et al., 2019;
Sabino et al., 2020).
In recent years, environmental problems have been extensively
solved by adopting fuzzy set theories. In general, fuzzy information is
efficiently used to develop a fair judgement by fuzzy set, and has been
predominantly adopted for spatial analysis of water quality parameters
(Venkatramanan et al., 2017; Oladipo et al., 2020). At this present time,
water quality index (WQI) is being addressed by fuzzy logic for envi­
ronmental problems, because it decreases the vagueness and impreci­
sion in criteria used in decision tools (Mckone and Deshpande, 2005;
Venkatramanan et al., 2015). Fuzzy method of categorization is exten­
sively used in geographic information system (GIS) for evaluating water
quality (Bonham-Carter, 1994; Dahiya et al., 2007; Anand and Kar­
unanidhi, 2020; Hussam et al., 2021). Combined with the GIS tools, the
fuzzy logic facilitates more rational description and evaluation of nat­
ural phenomena (Tsiko and Haile, 2011; Venkatramanan et al., 2017;
Biwas and Nahar, 2019; Ahmed et al., 2020). This technique also helps
to understand the characteristics of specific problems with restricted
field observations (Yanar and Akyürek, 2006). Several studies have been
carried out to understand the irrigation suitability of groundwater by
considering GIS techniques and geochemical parameters (Table A,
Supplementary). The review on these studies has served as a baseline to
formulate parameters adopted, to understand the significance of these
parameters and ions, considered to decide the quality of water used for
irrigation, irrespective of geography, lithology, topography, and
climate.
Based on the literature review (Table A, Supplementary), it was
observed that several quality indices were adopted to determine the
irrigation suitability in hard rock and sedimentary terrain. Supplemen­
tary Table A underscores the studies from different parts of the world,
representing Algeria, Bangladesh, California, China, Egypt, Europe,
Ghana, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Spain, Srilanka, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, and the USA. The major
parameters considered to determine the irrigation water quality were
EC, magnesium hazard (MH), Na%, PI, RSC, SAR, and Total Hardness
(TH). Various techniques like binary plots, histogram, inverse distance
method, ionic ratios, Wilcox plots, Piper diagrams, USSL diagrams; GIS
techniques, like Kriging method, overlay analysis, soil and water
assessment tool (SWAT) modelling, and software, like WATCLAST
(Chidambaram et al. 2004), CHIDAM (Chidambaram et al., 2021) and
AquaChem were adopted to determine irrigation water quality. Apart
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Environmental Research 204 (2022) 111729
from the earlier mentioned irrigation water quality parameters, Kellys
ratio (KR), Potential salinity (PS), Exchangeable sodium percentage
(ESP), Residual sodium carbonate (RSC) are also used to determine the
suitability of the samples for irrigation purposes. The inferences
revealed that although the irrigation quality has been determined to be
good by a few parameters, it was found to be unsuitable, with respect to
other parameters.
Villupuram is a coastal district located in the southern part of India,
represented by a complex geological terrain, predominantly by agrarian
population. The agricultural practices in the region are mainly depen­
dent on groundwater, irrespective of the season. Few previous studies
were conducted from various regions of the present study area, to name,
microbiological influence on groundwater(Senthilkumar et al., 2021),
groundwater quality investigation for drinking and irrigation purposes
in Marakkam block, Mailam block, and Gingee taluk (Sudar Oli et al.,
2017), and the fluctuation of groundwater level in part of Tindivanam
taluk (Karthikeyan and Senthilkumar 2011). Nepolian et al. (2016)
focused on the entire Villupuram district’s groundwater quality and the
hydrogeochemical dominant processes and on the dissolved silica pre­
dominance in groundwater. However, observation of the previous
studies indicated that there is a lack of systematic sampling to obtain the
spatio-temporal changes in groundwater quality, especially with respect
to irrigation. Hence, there has been a degree of uncertainty in deciding
the quality of water for irrigation purposes. It has therefore become
imperative to simplify and integrate the chief irrigation water quality
indices. Accordingly, this study addressed this gap by developing a new
plot, combing the key water quality indices considered for irrigation
purposes for effective decision making on the utility of specific
groundwater sample. The study also focuses on the spatio-temporal
variation of irrigation water quality and demarcating the good poten­
tial zones, GIS techniques were adopted. Successively, the aim was also
to develop an integrated groundwater quality potential map, focusing on
irrigation utility using fuzzy GIS method and determine the impact of
fertilizers on groundwater. Concisely, the study assessed the samples
suitable for irrigation purposes through a new ternary plot and their
spatio-temporal variation using new plot and the GIS technique. This
paper presents a contemporary approach to understand the irrigation
quality deterioration and management practices at different seasons.
2. Study area
The study area is estimated to be 7223 km2; it lies in between north
latitudes of 12◦ 47′ and 11◦ 49′ and east longitudes 78◦ 61′ and 80◦ 03′ ,
and is situated at the southern part of India, bounded by Bay of Bengal in
the northeast. The annual temperature is around 26.1–35.2 ◦ C, reflect­
ing tropical to sub-tropical climate. During pre-monsoon the humidity is
high, around 20–70%. During the study period, the rainfall was highest
in the coastal region (Purohit and Kaur, 2017), receiving 545.7-mm
rainfall annually. Cyclones occurred during the northeast monsoon
period, and the rainfall was heavy during the low-pressure depressions.
No rainfall event was recorded during the months of January to April,
gradually increasing from June to September (southwest monsoon
period) followed by October to November (northeast monsoon period),
and in December, a few rain events were recorded in the post monsoon
period. The Ponnaiyar river originates from Kalrayan hills and drains the
southern region of the district. Flowing from northwest to east, the
Manimuktanadi serves as an ephemeral source for irrigation purposes.
Pambaiyar and Varaganadhi river flow to the Bay of Bengal, originating
from the uplands of the district. The rivers carry only flood water during
the monsoon, and all are non-perineal in nature. The pattern of drainage
is parallel to sub-parallel; thus, the density is very low. The water level
increases during monsoon and due to dependency of groundwater for
agriculture, the water level also shows depletion during the subsequent
periods (Fig. 1).
The study area is predominantly represented by water level, ranging
from 2 m bgl to a maximum of 5 m bgl. The western and eastern parts of
C. S. et al.
Fig. 1. The map depicting sampling locations, the groundwater flow direction and the lithology of the study area.
the study area have deeper water level (93–127 m amsl) from the ground
surface. In some isolated pockets, the water depth ranges from near
surface to 2 m bgl during pre-monsoon. The water level varies from 62 to
93 m amsl, more predominant during post monsoon, and >62 m amsl
has been observed in the central and northeastern regions. Isolated
pockets with the water level varying from 93 to 127 m amsl exist in the
southwestern and northwestern part of the district. The topography and
the intensity of the fractures govern the movement of water (CGWB,
2009). Hence, it was inferred that the water moves from north and
southwestern region to southeastern part. The northwestern region is
elevated, and the depth to water level was observed to be higher than the
other regions of the study area (Fig. A, Supplementary).
The western part of Villupuram district is covered by rocks belonging
to Arachean age, comprising of charnockite group, migmatite complex,
Sathyamangalam group, Bhavani group, and alkali complex of the
Proterozoic age. Overlying the Archaean are the marine fossiliferous
upper Cretaceous and Paleocene formations, occurring in two separate
subbasins separated by thick cover of alluvial sediments deposited by
Gadilam and Ponnaiyar rivers. The major portion of the eastern region is
represented by sedimentary formations. As a result, the productive
fractures can be noticed in the select pockets, and the lineaments are
mainly observed in the southwestern and western parts of the study area
(Nepolian et al., 2016).
The land use pattern shows that agriculture is predominant in the
region followed by forest, water, and wasteland (Table B, Supplemen­
tary). For the district, the availability of water resources has expedited
the practice of agriculture in three different periods (District Statistical
Handbook, 2016–2017), namely, Sornavari (April to May) with paddy
for <120 d, Samba during August–November with 135-to 150- day crop
and Navarai period during December to January with <120-d crop. The
agricultural land cultivated for one season and uncropped for other
seasons are also represented in this category. Further, the tree crops
planted with definite management technique were also considered as
agricultural land. It has been reported that 15 varieties of crops were
cultivated throughout the year, among which, Paddy was the major
crop, followed by sugarcane, black gram, and groundnut (District Sta­
tistical Handbook, 2016–2017). The yield per hectare with respect to the
crop is highlighted in Fig. B (Supplementary), Varieties of fertilizers
were used for the cultivation of these crops, such as three major types,
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Environmental Research 204 (2022) 111729
which were the nitrogenous (47521 MT), potash (14046 MT), and
phophatic fertilizer (18513 MT), among others, during the study period
(District Statistical Handbook, 2016–2017).
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Sample collection and preparation
The selection of samples, frequency, distribution, and intensity of
samples were the key factors reflecting the significance of the study. In
this regard, sampling sites were located, with several factors taken into
consideration, like lithology, geomorphology, river influence, urban,
agricultural activity, and availability of wells (Fig. 1). Sampling of
groundwater was carried out during April 2016, November 2016,
August 2016, and February 2016, representing pre-monsoon (PRM),
northeast monsoon (NEM), southwest monsoon (SWM) and post
monsoon (POM) respectively. 680 samples were collected from the bore
wells at a rate of 177 samples per season. Different ions like HCO3− , Cl− ,
SO42− , PO43− , NO3− , F− , H4SiO4, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ were
analyzed for groundwater samples to cover the seasonal variations
(PRM, NEM, SWM, and POM) and lithology. One-liter polyethylene
bottles were used to sample groundwater. The bottles were properly
sealed and stored at 4 ◦ C in the laboratory for analysis (Ramesh and
Anbu, 1996). The samples were determined for major cations, minor
anions, and heavy metals by following the standard procedures of APHA
(1995).
3.2. Geochemical parameters considered for study
The agriculture quality of water is basically dependent upon nine
basic parameters like sodium percentage (Na%) Eaton (1950), sodium
adsorption ratio (SAR) (USSL, 1954), permeability index (PI) (Doneen,
1948), Kelly’s Ratio (Kelly, 1946), potential salinity (Palacios and
Aceves, 1970), magnesium hazard (Szabolcs and Darab, 1964), soluble
sodium percentage (Todd and Mays, 1980), exchangeable sodium per­
centage (Allison, 1956), and residual sodium carbonate (Richard, 1954).
C. S. et al. Environmental Research 204 (2022) 111729

3.3. Geospatial analysis using fuzzy membership
Fuzzy logic membership (Zadeh, 1973) is referred to as a technique
adopted to evaluate the input data ranging from 0.0 to 1.0 scale,
considering the possibility of a member in the more extensive set. The
linear fuzzy membership function was used to achieve the membership
values. Thus, derived fuzzy membership values govern the individual
membership values, and each membership value varies from 0.0 to 1.0
(Bonham Carter 1996). ArcGIS Spatial analyst extension has a number of
operators and functions to convert the input values, thus, reclassifying
them to 0 to 1 scale. Fuzzy membership values are spatially represented
by inverse distance weighted interpolation method. The fuzzy overlay
tool was used to derive the overlay map of all the considered parameters
for each season, and then, a single final map integrating all seasons. An
overlay analysis, considering various parameters, different criteria, and
multiple sets is facilitated by the fuzzy overlay tool. The fuzzy sets were
characterized to a degree varying from 0 to 1, using its membership
function by tracing the finite input information from all the water
quality parameters considered for this study. The spatial interpolation
for the fuzzy membership values (Table 1) were done by ArcGIS 10.2
(Fig. 2).
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Hydrochemistry
The maximum, minimum, and average concentrations of different
seasons are highlighted in Table 2. The pH, varying from 6.1 to 8.2,
being alkaline, had an average of 7.4. The value varied with respect to
season and locations. An average EC of 1346 μS/cm was observed with
values ranging from 430 to 4760 μS/cm. The higher EC was observed
during the PRM season, reflecting the fact that the groundwater has
more dissolved ions. The average concentration of cations and anions
are expressed in a definite order of dominance (Table C,
Supplementary).
During PRM and SWM, Na+ was the dominant cation followed by
Mg2+, indicating that alkaline metals are even more predominant than
alkaline earth metals. On the contrary, during NEM and POM seasons,
Ca2+ was seen to be the dominant ion, followed by Na+, which would
infer that alkaline earth metals exceeded the alkaline metals. Hence, the
change in the cations during different seasons indicated an ion exchange
process during weathering (Paul et al., 2019). Pertaining to anions, Cl−
was seen to be dominant, followed by HCO3− , indicative that strong
acids have greater concentration than weak acids, irrespective of the
season. The higher values of chlorides could be a sign of leaching of
secondary salts (Prasanna et al., 2011).
4.2. Fuzzy GIS maps for water quality indices
Water quality classification based on fuzzy in the GIS platform has
been extensively used for several different problems of suitability
analysis, categorizing, and ranking to evaluate the risk of desertification
(Sasikala and Petrou, 2001). The fuzzy logic was combined with the GIS
software to allow a more realistic classification and assessment

Table 1
Methodology. (a) Fuzzy membership classification adopted for determining the water quality indices. (b) Categories adopted for the new irrigation suitability plot.
Parameters Classifications PRM NEM SEM POM

Fuzzy membership Fuzzy membership Fuzzy membership Fuzzy membership

Classification Classification Classification Classification

EC Up to 250 <0.16 <0.33 <0.24 <0.31

250–750 0.16–0.24 0.33–0.49 0.24–0.34 0.31–0.44
750–2250 0.24–0.39 0.49–0.60 0.34–0.42 0.44–0.55
2250–5000 >0.39 >0.60 >0.42 >0.55
K ratio <1 0 0 0 0
>1 1 1 1
Mg hazard <50 0–0.5 0 0–0.5 0
>50 0.5–1 1 0.5–1 1
Na % 0–20 0 0–1 0 0
20–40 0.25 0.50 0.50
40–60 0.50
60–80 0.75 1 1
>80 1
PI >75 0 0 1 0
25–75 0.50 0.50
<25 1 1 1
PS 1–3 0 0 0 0
3–15 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50
15–20 1 1 1 1
RSC <1.25 0 0 0 0
1.25–2.5 0.50
>2.5 1 1
SAR 0–10 0 0 0 0
10–18
18–26 0.50
>26 1
SSP <6 0.50 0 0 0
6–10 0.25 0.25
10–15 0.75 0.50 0.34 0.50
15–25 0.75 0.65 0.75
>25 1 1 1 1

Category Permeability Index Sodium Adsorption Ratio Sodium percentage

Good <25 <10 <60a (i.e.100 - 40)

Moderate 25–50 10–18 60a – 40a
Doubtful 50–75 18–26 40a – 20a
Unsuitable >75 26 >20a
a
indicates the values after subtraction from 100.

4
C. S. et al. Environmental Research 204 (2022) 111729

Fig. 2. Flow chart depicting the different agricultural parameters used for spatial interpolation to derive the suitable regions using fuzzy logic technique.

Table 2
Maximum, minimum and average of the chemical constituents in groundwater representing all four sampling seasons.
Parameters Parameters PRM NEM SWM POM

Max Min Avg Max Min Avg Max Min Avg Max Min Avg

Ca2+ (mg/L) Ca (mg/l) 256 6 76.89 308 28 131.2 256 30.5 104 272 39.7 117.6
Mg2+ (mg/L) Mg (mg/l) 123.6 2.4 34.89 91.2 2.4 27.4 89 8.4 31.2 78 5.4 29.2
Na+ (mg/L) Na (mg/l) 762 4.9 90.20 115.2 0.70 38.8 427 4.45 64.5 259 2.6 51.7
K+ (mg/L) K (mg/l) 116.8 BDL 10.95 84.4 0.10 4.4 59 0.10 7.7 63.9 0.15 6.06
Cl− (mg/L) Cl (mg/l) 1808 35.5 273.35 556 35.4 242 966 45.2 257.6 545 48.7 249
HCO3− (mg/L) HCO3 (mg/l) 426 30 196.71 514.6 81 287 420.4 57.7 241.6 424 71.5 264
NO3− (mg/L) NO3 (mg/l) 267.5 BDL 28.56 96.7 BDL 20.4 137.2 BDL 24.5 83.8 BDL 22.4
PO43− (mg/L) PO4 (mg/l) 4.09 BDL 0.22 10.9 BDL 0.31 5.35 BDL 0.27 8.02 BDL 0.29
SO42− (mg/L) SO4(mg/l) 7.7 0.06 1.06 1.3 BDL 0.46 3.87 0.03 0.76 1.9 0.02 0.61
TDS (mg/L) TDS (mg/l) 3044 268.6 836.28 1437 320.4 876 2014 295 856 1498 308 866
EC(μS/cm) EC(μs/cm) 4760 429.7 1310.97 2249 506.7 1373 3150 469 1342 2345 488 1357
pH pH 8.2 6.1 7.41 8.2 6.4 7.5 7.9 6.46 7.5 8.02 6.5 7.49
Temp(⁰C) Temp(⁰⁰C) 35.2 26.1 30.82 28.1 27.1 28 33.2 27.05 29.3 33.2 27.5 28.5

BDL- Below Detection Limit [ Detection limit for K+ = 1–100 mg/L; NO3− = 0.01–35 mg/L; PO43− = 19μg/L-100 mg/L; SO42− = 2–900 mg/L].

(Venkatramanan et al., 2017). This technique is helpful to understand
the characteristics of specific problems in the study area, using the
limited field data, when compared to the normal spatial interpolation
techniques (Yanar and Akyürek, 2006). While inverse distance weighted
(IDW) interpolation refers to the weighted averaged values of sur­
rounding dense sample points, weights are computed by the inverse of
the distance from an observation to an estimate. Nonetheless, best re­
sults of IDW are obtained when sample points are sufficiently dense to
represent the local variation. If the sample points were sparse or
exceedingly uneven, the estimates may not adequately represent the
desired variations (Burrough and McDonnell, 1998).
Based on the aforesaid criteria, the following water quality indices,
like EC, Kelly’s ratio, Mg2+ hazard, Na%, PI, PS, SAR, RSC, SSP were
considered in determining the suitability of groundwater quality for
irrigation (Richard, 1954; Eaton, 1950). The IDW interpolation method
was used for plotting the spatial maps with the fuzzy membership values
of all nine parameters for four different seasons. Table 1 underlines all
the fuzzy membership values for all the calculated water quality indices.
Figure C (Supplementary) shows the fuzzy membership maps of all
irrigation water quality parameters.
4.3. Derivation of irrigation water quality indices
The irrigation water quality indices considered for study were
determined by the formulas as follows:
Residual sodium carbonate (RSC) = (CO3+ HCO3− ) - (Ca2++ Mg2+) (1)
+ 2+
Kelley’s Ratio (KR) = Na /(Ca + Mg ) 2+
(2)

5
C. S. et al.
Potential salinity (PS) = Cl− + 0.5 x SO42− (3)
Magnesium hazard (MH) = Mg2+ x100/(Ca2++ Mg2+) (4)
(5)
+ 2+ 2+ +
Soluble sodium percentage (SSP) = Na x100/(Ca + Mg + Na )
+ + 2+ 2+ + +
Sodium percentage (Na%) = (Na + K / Ca + Mg + Na + K ) x 100(6)
Sodium absorption ratio (SAR) = Na+/√ Ca2++ Mg2+/2 (7)
Permeability index (PI) = [{Na++√(HCO3− )}/(Ca2++ Mg2++ Na+)] x100
(8)
Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) = (− 0.0126 + 0.01475 x SAR) / (1 +
(− 0.0126 + 0.01475 x SAR)) x100 (9)
EC (Figs.Ca, 1–4, Supplementary) reflects the total ions present in the
groundwater and indirectly indicates the salinity of water. The fuzzy
membership EC for PRM showed that the higher values were noted
along the north-south stretch. During SWM, few patches of higher values
were observed from north to southwestern direction of the study area.
The spatial maps of NEM and POM were identical, with scattered
occurrence of higher values in the northern and toward the south­
western region. The lesser values were seen to be represented as small
patches in the eastern and western regions, irrespective of the season. By
and large, during southwest, northeast, and post monsoon period,
moderate to higher EC values were observed throughout the study area.
Apparently, this is due to the influence of leaching of secondary salts by
the monsoonal rainwater (Prasanna et al., 2010; Thivya et al., 2013).
Kelly’s ratio (KR) assessed the groundwater quality for irrigation
purposes based on the concentration of Na + against Ca2+ and Mg2+
(Kelly, 1946; Paliwal, 1967). Dhirendra et al. (2009) reported that the
Mg2+ content in soil enhances the alkalinity to the soil, which in turn,
reduces the crop yield. Based on the KR, value > 1 is considered not
suitable for irrigation purposes. The fuzzy map of KR ratio (Fig. Cb, 1–4,
Supplementary) in PRM indicated that high values were seen to be
distinct along the southern part with small patches in the east and
western sides of the study area. The rest of the regions had lesser values
and were seen to be suitable for irrigation purposes. The KR maps of
NEM, SWM, and POM displayed a similar pattern, where lesser values
were observed throughout the study area, suggesting suitability for
irrigation.
Magnesium hazard (MH) values in groundwater render the soil to
become alkaline, thus resulting in low crop production (Gautam et al.,
2015; Narsimha and Sudarshan, 2016). In the fuzzy map of MH for PRM,
moderate to higher values were observed as distinct zones in south, east,
and western regions. SWM season showed minor patches of moderate
values in the southern region and the rest, with lesser values. NEM and
POM maps showed a parallel pattern, where most of the areas were
noted to be represented by lesser values, except for minor patches in the
southern portion (Fig. Cc, 1–4, Supplementary). The groundwater
quality could be said to be generally suitable for irrigation, irrespective
of seasons, however, not including PRM.
Sodium percentage (Na%) or sodium hazard is a major factor which
governs the groundwater suitability for irrigation. Higher concentration
of Na+ creates chemical bonding with soil and reduces the water
movement capacity (Ayers and Westcot, 1985). The irrigated water,
with low salinity and relatively higher Na+ with respect to other cations,
reduces the infiltration capacity. The fuzzy maps of Na% (Fig. Cd, 1–4,
Supplementary) showed good variations irrespective of seasons. During
PRM, moderate to higher values were observed in specific zones along
the southern and northern regions. During NEM, significantly higher
values were detected from southwest to northeast region. SWM season
map demonstrated that most of the areas were covered with moderate
values; minor patches with lesser values were witnessed in the south­
west and northeastern regions of the study area. POM samples disclosed
an equal distribution of moderate and lesser values in the study area,
where the moderate values were seen to be concentrated in the central
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portion, and lesser values, along the southwest and the northeast. On the
whole, southwestern and northeastern regions showed suitable
groundwater quality for irrigation based on Na%.
Permeability index (PI) was used to determine the water movement
capability in soil based on the concentration of Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and
HCO3− . The fuzzy map of PI (Fig. Ce, 1–4, Supplementary) for PRM
shows that most of the areas were represented with moderate values,
along with minor patch of higher values in the southern region of the
study area. During SWM, majority of the region was seen to be covered
by lower values. During NEM and POM, majority of the areas were
covered with higher values, reflecting the unsuitability for irrigation.
Higher rainfall during NEM, followed by the infiltration and leaching of
secondary salts during POM season, has led to higher salt concentration
in groundwater.
Potential salinity (PS) was employed as an indicator to determine the
suitability of groundwater for irrigation based on Cl− and SO42− con­
centration in the groundwater. The spatial distribution of PS (Fig. Cf,
1–4, Supplementary) for all the seasons appeared to have a comparable
pattern, with moderate values along the majority of the study area and
minor portion, along the west, depicting lower values.
The fuzzy maps for residual sodium carbonate (RSC) (Fig. Cg, 1–4,
Supplementary), and sodium absorption ratio (SAR) (Fig. Ch, 1–4,
Supplementary) show similar spatial pattern irrespective of seasons,
where the study area was seen to be mostly covered with lower values,
signifying suitability for irrigation purposes. The fuzzy map for SSP
during PRM showed that the higher values were observed predomi­
nantly in the study area with few patches of moderate values along the
west and the east. During NEM season, moderate to higher values were
represented along the major portion of the study area, and few patches
of low values were observed in the west and eastern regions of the study
area. During SWM, higher values were mostly concentrated in the cen­
tral region; whereas, moderate to low values were noted in the western
and northeastern region of the study area. The spatial maps indicated
that during SWM, most of the area was covered with high to moderate
values, and minor patches of lower values were observed along the
eastern and western regions. A major portion of the study area during
POM season was represented by moderate to higher values with few
pockets of lower values along the western and eastern regions. Overall,
moderate to higher values of SSP were distributed along the central
portion, and few patches of lower values were discerned in the western
and eastern portions.
All the chemical indices were applied in the fuzzy GIS maps and were
overlaid to create irrigation water quality area coverage maps for
different seasons. Five categories of water quality such as excellent,
good, moderate, poor, and very poor were classified based on the fuzzy
membership values for all the chemical indices. During PRM, water
quality was categorized to be good (5663 km2) to excellent (93 km2),
indicative of suitable quality for irrigation (Fig. Da, Supplementary),
which was observed in the western and northeastern regions of the study
area. Poor (387 km2) to very poor (56 km2) water quality was observed
at an isolated patch in the southern part of the study area. The spatial
distribution of the integrated parameters during NEM showed that, (Fig
Db, Supplementary) poor (827 km2) to very poor (86 km2) quality of
groundwater for irrigation purposes was observed in the southwestern
portion. Good (1406 km2) to excellent (63 km2) groundwater quality
was noted in the western and eastern regions. During SWM, (Fig Dc,
Supplementary) water quality showed good (1764 km2) to excellent (85
km2) in the western and eastern portions of the study area. Moderate
(4873 km2) to poor (406 km2) water quality for irrigation was observed
in the central portion, stretching from north to south of the study area.
Poor (2046 km2) to very poor (983 km2) water quality was observed in
the central part during POM (Fig: D, Supplementary). Good (467 km2) to
excellent (86 km2) water quality for irrigation was noted in patches at
the western and eastern regions. This observation would infer that the
regions suitable for agriculture were predominantly represented during
the pre-monsoon period. It is worth mentioning that water level was
C. S. et al.
seen to decrease during the monsoon period due to the extraction of
groundwater for agriculture. Although rainfall events have been noted
during this period, a significant quantity of groundwater resources could
be used for agriculture purposes, leading to the depletion of the water
level. Further, the insignificant rainfall events during December (POM)
of the previous year increased the water level of the subsequent PRM,
considering that no significant groundwater extraction was observed
during this period for agriculture. Hence, most of the short-term crops
with lesser water requirement can be cultivated during this period, using
the available groundwater resources. Albeit, the study also revealed that
this could be practiced in the western and northwestern regions, like
Sankarapuram and Kallakurichi.
4.4. Final fuzzy overlay map
The final irrigation quality map was derived from the fuzzy overlay
of spatial maps obtained from four different seasons (Fig. 3). In the final
fuzzy overlaid map, the suitable zones were distributed along the
western and eastern regions of the study area. Unsuitable zones were
concentrated to be distinct patches along the southern portion. The
geochemistry of groundwater could be deduced as predominantly
influenced by weathering and leaching of secondary salts, including
agricultural return flow (Nepolian, 2017).
The area covered by different classes considering these nine pa­
rameters, with respect to each seasons are depicted in Fig. 4. During
PRM, it was found that the water quality in the study area was pre­
dominantly categorized as good, even before the event of rainfall. The
subsequent rain events showed an increase in the area classified of
Fig. 3. Map showing the integrated final fuzzy overlay map for irrigation water quality. The excellent and good category indicates the regions with groundwater
suitable for irrigation purpose.
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medium category, which happened to be the predominant class in all
other seasons. This would indicate that the increase in rain events has
augmented the agricultural practices in the region, thereby, categorizing
them of medium class, essentially, due to the migration of ions into the
groundwater. This process is mainly facilitated, either by ion exchange,
weathering, or influence of anthropogenic sources (Nepolian, 2017).
The agricultural activity was thus initiated during the monsoon period,
leading to the application of fertilizers, which could also be a major
factor for enriching ions in groundwater. There is an increase in poor to
very poor category in the regions during POM, reflecting the fact, that all
the processes like ion exchange, weathering, or anthropogenic sources
occurred during the monsoonal periods, having reached the water table
during POM. Correspondingly, such an occurrence resulted to an in­
crease in the poor quality of water for irrigation in the regions.
4.5. New irrigation suitability plots
Water is generally classified for irrigation purposes, based on the Na+
concentration, because of Na+ forming the chief cation, influencing the
EC of water. An empirical linear relationship between ESP and SAR was
established by several researchers (Allison et al., 1954; Sposito et al.,
1983). Similarly, other parameters like SSP, KR, magnesium hazard, and
RSC are dependent on these three basic parameters (Na%, PI and the
SAR), and most of these parameters (ESP, PS, Mg-Hazard, RSC, Kellys
ratio, SSP) spin around the relative concentration of Na+ to that of other
ions (Levy and Schainbary, 2005). Higher EC reduces the productivity of
crop, as the plant is incapable of competing with ions present in soil
solution, resulting in physiological drought (Bauder et al., 2007), further
C. S. et al.
Fig. 4. The seasonal variation in the total area representing the different categories derived from fuzzy logic technique and its relationship to the rainfall received.
indicating that lesser water is available to the plants.
Three parameters, namely, Na%, SAR, and PI are interrelated, where
the relative concentration of Na+ is determined with respect to other
cations (Chidambaram et al., 2021). The higher concentration of Na+
affects the soil permeability by two different processes, such as ion ex­
change and adsorption. The relatively higher percent of Na+ in water
when adsorbed or exchanged for other cations, like Ca2+ and Mg2+ af­
fects the permeability of the soil, thus rendering the soil to be imper­
meable and compact. Elevated Na+ concentration in the irrigated water
leads to water logging crust formation in the soil, reduction of aeration,
decrease in the rate of infiltration and permeability. Apart from the
impact of Na+ in the physical properties of soil, it could also lead to
toxicity in specific crops (Ogunfowokan et al., 2013). The higher Na+ is
adsorbed on the soil with soil extracted water having higher EC
~4dSm− 1, less ESP (<15) and pH > 8.5. The process of saline stress
affects the yield of crops and thus becomes responsible for land degra­
dation. Similar condition was reported in the coastal regions (Ahsan and
Satter, 2010). Studies also indicated the fact that salinity may also be
stimulated by the sea spray along the coastal region (Rozema et al.,
1983; Olga and Akomianaki-Loannidou, 2014).
SAR is the reliable parameter to determine the quality of water for
irrigation, as it reflects the ESP in soil (Tiwari and Mansoor, 1988). The
permeability or the infiltration capacity of the soil is generally reflected
by SAR and EC of water (Nata Tadesse et al., 2009). Suarez et al. (1984)
determined that the saturated soil permeability and dispersion in clay
are affected by higher pH. This factor is inferred to be independent of
SAR and EC. There is a notable decrease in the average rate of infiltra­
tion due to higher SAR levels. This phenomenon was observed to be
more significant during the non-cropping periods in loamy soils (Suarez
et al., 2008). Interestingly, the increase of EC value exhibits increase of
saturated permeability. Kazman et al. (1983) also revealed that the
infiltration is affected by the disaggregation of soil during the process of
instant wetting of dry soil surface. The process was reported to be sig­
nificant in clayey soil (Levy et al., 1997; Levy and Shainberg, 2005).
Hence, considering these three basic parameters (Na%, SAR, and PI),
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a ternary diagram was developed. The PI and SAR values were consid­
ered as calculated; but, the obtained Na% values were subtracted from
100 (100- Na%) for plotting. Samples of different seasons were plotted
in four different ternary plots (Table 3b).
The categories were marked in the triangle based on the percent
proportion among these three values. Most of the samples fell near the
vertex of Na% with lesser SAR values, indicating that the samples pre­
dominantly are grouped under good category. Read as higher Na% value
from the picture; however, the original calculated value was reversed
due to the subtraction of the derived value from 100 (Fig. 5). Therefore,
the ternary plot was designated with different zones as good, moderate,
doubtful, and unsuitable. The plot also showed the legend with respect
to EC of samples based on Richard (1954). The EC categorization was
considered in three ranges, namely, as poor (>2250 μS/cm), moderate
(2250–750 μS/cm), and good (<750 μS/cm).
During the PRM season, samples showed to have mostly fallen from
good to moderate category. There were also samples within the doubtful
and suitable categories. The samples of SWM were shown to be equally
distributed within the moderate to good category. During NEM,
migration of samples was observed more toward the good category; a
low quantity of samples fell within the moderate category. A slight
decrease in of Na% was seen during the POM, with a predominance of
samples within the good to moderate category. It was also noted that
during POM and NEM, there was no representation of samples in either
the doubtful or unsuitable category. In general, the migration of samples
from unsuitable category to good category was inferred from PRM to
monsoonal period and later reverted back to moderate category during
POM. This could be due to the influence of rainfall and agricultural
practices, as the rain event was initiated prior to August 2016, reducing
the Na% and increasing the PI values. The increase of Ca2+ + Mg2+ with
respect to Na+ during monsoonal period may be said to have been
governed by the process of weathering (Chidambaram et al., 2021) or
due to the process of ion exchange (Thilagavathi et al. 2012, 2019).
Largely, Ca2+ and Mg2+ in most of the waters are expected to be at an
equilibrium state. Both these cations Ca2+ and Mg2+ attempt to maintain
C. S. et al.
Fig. 5. New ternary plot derived to determine the suitability of groundwater for irrigation purpose. The plot incorporates four variables electrical conductivity, Na%,
Sodium Adsorption Ratio and PermeabilityIndex.
the electrical neutrality of the solution, especially against Na+. Several
researchers have attempted to work on the reclamation of saline soils,
using different techniques (Singh et al., 2016; Ahmed and Clark, 2016)
among which, application of gypsum has become traditional via an in­
crease in the Ca content, with respect to Na+.
Categorization with respect to EC showed that samples with EC
values > 2250 μS/cm were noted, irrespective of season. Samples rep­
resenting poor quality with respect to conductivity were detected in all
the categories of the plot, ranging from good to unsuitable. Thus, sam­
ples with poor EC falling within the good category of the plot could have
been mainly due to the higher concentration of Ca2+ + Mg2+ ions; while
and those falling within the doubtful to unsuitable category could be
because of the higher concentration of Na+.
Evidently, it may be inferred that these four different parameters,
namely, Na%, SAR, PI, and EC may be considered significant parameters
for irrigation purposes. The USSL diagram plots the EC, with respect to
SAR, the increase of EC may be due to Na+ and K+ rather than Ca2+ and
Mg2+. These divalent cations may be helpful for the reclamation of sa­
line soils. Consequently, this proposed new ternary plot could provide a
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deeper insight and a higher applicability than the USSL diagram.
Groundwater used for irrigation purposes is contaminated by the use
of fertilizers during the process of irrigation. Groundwater is rendered
unsuitable for irrigation purposes by deep percolation of rainwater and
irrigation water which serve as the main source for the transport of the
nutrients in their soluble forms, being derived from fertilizers. Statistics
revealed that three major types of fertilizers were used for agriculture,
namely, nitrogeneous, phosphatic, and potassic (District Statistical
Handbook, 2016–2017). The most common form of nitrogen in water is
nitrate (Kaçaroğlu and Günay, 1997). The chief sources of these ions in
groundwater are decomposition of soil organic matter, leaching of sol­
uble synthetic or chemical fertilizers (particularly N fertilizer), human
and animal excreta (Hill, 1982), and onsite sewage disposal in septic
systems (Aravena and Robertson, 1998), etc. The nitrate ion has been
reported to be higher in PRM and ranges from BDL to 267.54 mg/L.
Phosphate also enters the groundwater system chiefly by the process of
fertilization during irrigation (Papatheodorou et al., 2006; Amadi et al.,
2015). The intensive application of fertilizer is liable for the availability
of phosphate and sulphate ions in the groundwater, and this may also be
C. S. et al.
due to the weathering of Apatite minerals (Brindha et al., 2014). The
acid charnokites and granites were reported to have Apatite (Chi­
dambaram et al., 2008). A combination of phosphate fertilizers is chiefly
available in the market as triple phosphate (TSP), diammonium phos­
phate (DAP), mono ammonium phosphate (MAP) and a mixture of NPK.
The repeated application of fertilizers could result in a cumulative effect
of these contaminants to an alarming level (Yargholi and Azarneshan,
2014; Hariprasad and Dayananda, 2013). This also could lead to a
complex situation due to the interaction between these contaminants,
which is more hazardous than that of the impact of single contaminant
(Brindha and Elango, 2012; Haiyan and Stuanes, 2003; Khan et al.,
2018). The studies by Loganathan et al. (1995) and Chen et al. (2017)
reported the contamination of cadmium (Cd) and few heavy metals due
to the application of phosphatic fertilizers; although these fertilizers
serve as a source of nutrients (Pan et al., 2010). The long-term appli­
cation of the NPK fertilizers increases copper (Cu), Cd, lead (Pb), man­
ganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) in the soils (Zarnecki and Düring, 2015).
Apart from the contamination by metals, the phosphatic fertilizers have
also resulted in the increase of radioactive element concentration in soil
and water (Thivya et al., 2015; Erban and Gorelick, 2016; Adithya et al.,
2020). PO43− ranges from below detection limit (BDL) to 10.68 mg/L;
higher concentration was observed during NEM.
Potassium is considerably less abundant in fresh groundwater, when
compared to Na+ (Hem, 1985), which may be due to ion exchange or
depending on the mobility and the weathering process (Chidambaram
et al., 2021). Weathering of feldspar in charnockite and fissile horn­
blende biotite gneiss results in Na+ and K+ in groundwater (Thivya et al.,
2013). Potash is a chief nutrient supplied to the plants as KCl (Manning
et al., 2010), and plays a vital role in plant metabolism. The application
of KCl strongly affects the salinity of the soil and irrigated water, where
K+ is taken by the plant as a macronutrient and Cl− as a micronutrient.
Fig. 6. Bivariate plot showing the influence of fertilizer to the groundwater quality of the study area aquifer.
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The excess KCl accumulates in the soil pores and is adsorbed in the soil
particles and forms salts, especially in the arid and semiarid regions. The
application of KCl as fertilizer has been known to be a major driving
force responsible for salinization of groundwater and soil (Bhuva­
neswari et al. 2017, 2020). Irrigation pattern has more impact on the
leaching of salts to the groundwater or on the soil particles than fertil­
ization. In a vegetable cultivation system, an optimal utilization of fer­
tilizer by appropriate irrigation system can reduce the risk of
environmental pollution (Li and Qian, 2018). During the SWM season, a
higher concentration of K+ was seen varying from BDL to 116.80 mg/L.
A detailed documentation on NPK fertilizer on the soil and ground­
water was attempted by several researchers from different parts of the
world (Srivastava and Ramanathan, 2018; Lwimbo et al., 2019; Navarro
et al., 2016), stressing on the balanced nutrient application for
enhancing rice production (Fabbri et al., 2016). Leaching of fertilizers to
the groundwater is a global phenomenon. Leaching process is also
mainly observed along the regions with industrial sewage, accumulation
of manure and organic waste (Rao and Puttanna, 2000). The vertical
migration of NO3− to the vadose zone was extensively studied by
Katupitiya et al. (1997). Since NPK fertilizers were chiefly used, a dia­
gram combining these ions were attempted to understand the influence
of fertilizer in the groundwater. The nitrate concentration was noted to
be generally higher in groundwater when compared to PO43− and K+,
due to the mobility of ions and abundance of sources. Accordingly, a
logarithmic scale was applied to all the parameters (Fig. 6). Both the ions
with relatively lesser values PO43− and K+ (mg/L values) were consid­
ered in the vertical axis. The samples of all the four seasons were plotted
in the proposed diagram. The higher concentration of nitrate may be due
to different factors and if it were influenced by the other two parameters,
the points would exhibit a linear relationship. The lesser values of all
these parameters are represented in the left bottom corner, representing
C. S. et al.
with lesser to no contamination. The right bottom corner illustrates
samples with high nitrate concentration; the top left corner, represented
by samples with higher values of potassium; the top right corner rep­
resents the contamination by N, P, and K. The K+, derived from the ion
exchange or mineral weathering, independent of NO3− is also repre­
sented in the left side of the diagram. It may be observed that the
samples were scattered throughout the plot. There was linearity with
respect to samples in specific seasons, where the linear relationship of
these parameters revealed a parallel increasing trend in all concentra­
tions. This linearity was observed in the different regions of the plot,
indicating the number of isolated agricultural regions or water sheds
contaminated with fertilizers. The slope of the line may vary according
to the source of the fertilizer, the amount used, and the relative pro­
portion of the NPK. The composition of the recharge water infiltrating
through the vadose zone was seen to vary with respect to the application
of fertilizers as a result of high diverse cropping pattern. Studies have
indicated that changes in farming practices and heterogeneity of the
aquifer properties could affect the distribution of the NO3− in small
agricultural water sheds (Dorin and Aubron, 2016). Further, it was also
noted that the samples of NEM and SWM showed a clear linear trend, as
the application of fertilizer was started only after the initiation of irri­
gation during the monsoon period. The slope of NEM would imply a
steep variation of NO3− with respect to a small increase of potash or
phosphate values. Highly soluble NO3− and NO2 have higher mobility
and are less bonded to soil particles (Kaçaroğlu, and Günay, 1997).
NO3− and NO2 are basically derived by the oxidation of ammonia, which
was initially enriched due to the application of nitrogen fertilizers
(Speriran, 1996). The process of oxidation also leads to the depletion of
oxygen levels (Horita et al., 1997) and that the derivative of nitrogen is
accelerated to the water table through the vadose layer via the irrigated
water (Nolan et al., 2002). The slope of SWM specified the fact that the
application of potash and phosphatic fertilizer has been relatively higher
during this aforesaid period, also dependent on the mobility of ions
(Srinivasamoorthy et al., 2008). However, this process of leaching is
very critical, especially in the arid and semiarid regions, like India, as
leaching depends on the spatial variation of the physical properties of
aquifer, source composition, and the rate of evaporation (Bhuvaneswari
et al., 2020).
The impact of the fertilizer is clearly visible in the groundwater as the
water table is shallow and it travels faster through vadose zone in hard
rock aquifers than in the sedimentary formations. This observation
could be further substantiated by the increase in the concentration of
these ions during POM, as the applied fertilizers during the monsoon
period reaches the water table. It is also to be noted that only 19% of the
region is cultivated more than once, and cultivation is predominantly
during samba rice from August (District Statistical Handbook,
2016–2017). The impact of these ions still predominated in the POM
groundwater samples, considering that there has been no complete
flushing or dilution.
The derived observations from the current study were compared
against the irrigation water quality of other regions with similar climatic
pattern and geological condition. Groundwater from a similar semiarid
region of South India with complex lithology was studied for irrigation
suitability. It was inferred that the northern parts of the watersheds have
an unacceptable category of RSC and high values of SAR during pre-
monsoon period (Balasubramani et al., 2020). This observation runs
contrary to the current observation that the values of RSC and SAR were
higher during post monsoon season due to the variation in aquifer ma­
trix, the cropping pattern and use of fertilizers. Munesh Kumari and Rai
(2020) had an observation similar to the current study that majority of
the groundwater in a semiarid region of southern Haryana, India have
high values of KR, MH, and salinity, which could be said unsuitable for
irrigation. This is due to the fact that evapotranspiration exceeds pre­
cipitation in the prevailing semiarid climatic conditions, apart from over
exploitation of groundwater and excessive use of agrochemicals in the
study area. The studies have also tried to address water quality for
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irrigation, considering samples from unconfined and confined aquifers
(Ghazaryan et al., 2020). The authors concluded that groundwater from
confined aquifer had better irrigation properties than that of the
groundwater from unconfined aquifer. This observation would suggest
that unconfined aquifers are more prone to contamination, as observed
from the current study. Higher values of SAR in northeast Algeria were
found to be associated with the anthropogenic contamination, fertil­
izers, and marine invasion (Boufekane and Saighi, 2019). Similar mul­
tiple sources of these ions were also deduced from the current study. A
more similar approach by adopting SAR, RSC, Na%, PI, and MH hazard
in an arid region of Balochistan province, Pakistan was attempted
(Khanoranga and Khalid, 2019) and was concluded that groundwater
was suitable for irrigation only in terms of SAR and PI. Nevertheless, this
study has tried to incorporate all these parameters spatially in order to
provide a more concrete solution by developing a ternary plot. Similar
study was attempted to understand the irrigation water quality by using
individual parameters like Na%, EC, SAR, RSC, MH and KR in Liwa
Aquifer, Abu Dhabi (Iqbal et al., 2018), implying the fact that the
groundwater was not suitable for irrigation purposes due to anthropo­
genic activities, such as excessive use of agricultural fertilizer. The
aforementioned comparison would state a global fact that excessive use
of fertilizers, associated anthropogenic sources, natural weathering,
leaching of bed rocks, and climatic variability are the common factors
affecting water quality for irrigation (Czarnecki and Düring, 2015).
4.6. Conceptual outcome of the study
Agriculture is basically dependent on several parameters, against
which the fundamental concern is the quality of water used for irriga­
tion. The observations have led to classify the water quality of the study
area into five different categories (Very Poor, Poor, Medium, Good, and
Excellent quality). The classification was based on the groundwater
parameters of samples representing four different seasons. Subsequent
correlation of these spatial parameters to land use and elevation (Fig. 7)
of the study area highlighted the flow of water from the elevated regions
to the shallow plains. Groundwater flow is also governed by the
topography of the region. The elevated regions were noted in the
southwestern and northwestern part; and hence, the water flows toward
the center of the basin and toward the northeast. Land use pattern
showed that agriculture is practiced along the elevated regions, flood
plains, and in the coastal alluvium. The region adjoining the Ponniyar
river is irrigated and was observed to be contaminated, samples were
represented by poor to very poor quality, rendering it unsuitable for
irrigation. Hence, cultivation in this region with groundwater may affect
the yield of crops. Excellent to good quality of groundwater for irrigation
purposes was observed in the northern part of the study area. The
eastern part is covered by sedimentary formation bounded by Cuddalore
district in the southeast, Pondicherry and Bay of Bengal in the east. The
excessive drawl of groundwater from the neighboring regions has also
led to contamination of seawater in these aquifers, especially in the
Cuddalore region (Chidambaram et al., 2018; Srinivasamoorthy et al.,
2011) and not predominant in the Pondicherry region (Tirumalesh et al.,
2016; Thilagavathi et al., 2019). The groundwater of southeastern
portion of the study area portion of the is prone to seawater contami­
nation, which may have led to the poor quality of water in this region.
However, determination of the process of contamination is beyond the
scope of the present study and it has already been determined earlier by
Nepolian (2017). This current study was focused only on the suitable
regions for agriculture. The presence of tanks along the northeastern
region has helped in the recharge of the freshwater to the shallow
groundwater, favored by the coastal alluvium. This process has pre­
vented the aggressive intrusion of seawater into the aquifer. Meanwhile,
this study identified that the groundwater of the northern portion was
more suitable for irrigation purposes, irrespective of season.
C. S. et al.
Fig. 7. Conceptual model for the outcome of this study integrating the groundwater based irrigation suitable regions of different derived from the fuzzy technique.
The finals overlay of the suitable regions are projected on a landuse map.
5. Conclusion
This research has proposed a relatively simple and novel model to
assess and map groundwater suitability for irrigation purpose. The
depletion of the water table was observable even during the monsoon
period owing to the significant use of groundwater for agricultural
purpose. The subsequent post monsoon season experienced insignificant
rain showers, followed by pre-monsoon with no extensive utilization of
groundwater for agriculture leading to the increase in water level.
Hence, most of the short-term crops with lesser water requirement are
recommended in the western and northwestern regions, like Sankar­
apuram and Kallakurichi. The new irrigation suitability plot has incor­
porated all the essential irrigation water quality parameters (EC, Na%,
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Environmental Research 204 (2022) 111729
SAR, and PI) and has overcome the gaps of the previous suitability plots.
The individual samples were categorized for irrigation suitability, using
this new ternary plot. To demarcate zones of suitability and their tem­
poral variations, the spatial distribution of these parameters was
considered within the GIS environment. The final fuzzy map developed
by integrating nine parameters of four different seasons has defined
irrigation water quality, as per the observations noted in this study. In
the study region, 18.8% of the samples had excellent quality ground­
water and 1% with very poor water quality. From the integrated map, it
is inferred that 68.8% of groundwater in the study area can be used for
irrigation mostly in the western and eastern regions of the study site. The
groundwater in the southern region was determined to be unsuitable for
irrigation. The influence of NPK fertilizers was observed to be prominent
C. S. et al.
during monsoon seasons. The poor water quality in the southern part
could have been mainly influenced by agricultural practices, seawater
incursion due to excessive withdrawal from the neighboring regions,
weathering, or rock water interaction, and active geochemical pro­
cesses. The seasonal fluctuation of water quality may be said to reflect
the increase of ionic concentration during monsoon. Hence, it is sug­
gested that short-term crops with lesser water requirement can be
cultivated during the PRM period using the available groundwater re­
sources in the western region.
The application of parameter-based irrigation water quality in fuzzy
GIS platform has been found useful in assessing the overall quality of
groundwater. It is also helpful for the public and policy makers to un­
derstand that determining water quality is a useful tool in several ways
in the field of irrigation management. The resultant map will also help
the non-academicians and end users to be aware of the overall water
quality, with respect to irrigation. This study also has demonstrated high
efficiency of GIS to analyze complex spatial data. In this manner, GIS
platform could play a key role in decision making processes targeting
agricultural practices and preventing reduction in crop yield of a region.
Although the study was limited to specific area of Tamil Nadu, South
India; nonetheless, insights and derived lessons may be applied with a
universal perspective. Several developing countries, including other
parts of India share similar water quality issue, which has been observed
in the current study area. Other parts of South India may also experience
water scarcity and quality issues due to over exploitation of water,
changes in the frequency of rainfall due to climate change and intensive
mixing of pollutants from several sources. Thus, the combined effect of
arid climate, existing geogenic risks (aquifer lithology generating the
contaminants), and anthropogenic activities may result in several water
quality issues and intensify human health risk upon consumption of
water in these regions. Consequently, administrators and decision
makers should consider the GIS platform in producing groundwater
quality maps for a sustainable management plan to safeguard these
water resources from further contamination and subsequent harmful
effects.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The project was funded by Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences
(BRNS), India with vide reference to BRNS letter No. F: 36(4)/14/14/
2014 Dated: July 16, 2014.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111729.
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