Ground Water Quality

Analysis in Badulla District

P.D.N.M. Ariyadasa
PG/E/WE/2022/01

Supervisor : Prof. K.G.N Nanayakkara

Content
1. Introduction
2. Water Quality
3. Research Problem
4. Aim and Objectives
5. Literature Review
6. Reference
1. Introduction
 Water is continually moving around, through, and above the Earth. 70% of earth’s
surface is covered with water.

Ice Caps and

glaciers 70 %
Groundwater in Sri Lanka
 Groundwater resources are widely used for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes, small scale
irrigation, water supply schemes and other purposes.
 In Sri Lanka, About 80% of the rural domestic water supply needs are met from groundwater by using dug
wells and tube wells.
Panabokke & Perera,2005, Groundwater Resources of Sri Lanka

 Six main types of groundwater aquifers can been identified and characterized in Sri Lanka.
1. Shallow Karstic Aquifer of Jaffna Peninsula
2. Deep Confined Aquifers
3. Coastal Sand Aquifers
4. Alluvial Aquifers
5. Shallow Regolith Aquifer of the Hard Rock Region
6. South Western Lateritic (Cabook) Aquifer

Panabokke & Perera,2005, Groundwater Resources of Sri Lanka

 Groundwater abstraction
points in Sri Lanka

Types of Aquifers
in Sri Lanka

Panabokke & Perera,2005, Groundwater Resources of Sri Lanka

Groundwater in Sri Lanka

CORPORATE ACTION PLANS

AS AT END FOURTH QUARTER 2020
(NWS&DB)
2. Water Quality
 What is Water Quality?
 Water Quality can be defined as the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of water,
usually in respect to its suitability for a designated use.
 What is Water Quality Analysis?
 Water quality analysis is to measure the required parameters of water, following standard
methods, to check whether they are in accordance with the standard.
 Why Water Quality Analysis is required?
 Water quality analysis is required mainly for monitoring purpose.
 Some importance of such assessment includes:
 To check whether the water quality is in compliance with the standards.
 To monitor the efficiency of a system, working for water quality maintenance
 To check whether upgradation / change of an existing system is required and to decide what changes
should take place.

Water quality analysis is of extremely necessary in the sectors of

• Public Health (especially for drinking water)
• Industrial Use
Ritabrata Roy, 2019
Water Quality Standards
 In Sri Lanka, Water Quality Shall comply with SLS 614 : 2013
Parameter Permissible Level Unit
Physical Quality
1. Color 15 Pt/Co unit
2. Turbidity 2 NTU
Chemical Quality
1. pH 6.5 to 8.5 -
2. Electrical Conductivity - μS/cm
3. Chloride (as Cl-) 250 mg/L
4. Total Alkalinity (as CaCO3) 200 mg/L
5. Nitrate (as NO3-) 50 mg/L
6. Nitrite (as NO2-) 3 mg/L
7. Fluoride (as F-) 1 mg/L
8. Total Phosphate (as PO43-) 2 mg/L
Water Quality Standards
Parameter Permissible Level Unit

9. Total Dissolved Solids 500 mg/L

10. Total Hardness (as CaCO3) 250 mg/L

11. Total Iron 0.3 mg/L

12. Sulphate (as SO42-) 250 mg/L

13. Calcium 100 mg/L

14. Manganese 0.1 mg/L

Bacteriological Quality

1. Total Coliform 10 Nos/100 mL

2. E.Coli Nil Nos/100 mL

3. Research Problem
 Most of the countries use groundwater as their major source of water supply.
 Since the groundwater presents beneath the earth’s surface, the possibility of contamination due to
anthropogenic activities is very less.
 Hence, people believe that groundwater is comparatively much clean and free from pollution than
surface water.
 But groundwater can become contaminated naturally or because of several types of anthropogenic
activities like over exploitation, usage of agrochemicals, releasing industrial effluents in to the
environment etc.
 Once groundwater aquifer gets contaminated, it is very problematic and hard to treat the water up to its
original quality.
 Thus, protecting groundwater sources from contamination is advisable rather than remediation.

Therefore, Ground water quality analysis is very important to overcome the above
problems and protect the ground water for future.
Research Problem

https://www.nwsdbbandarawela.lk
4. Aim of the Study
 The aim of this study is to assess the water quality of shallow well water sources in Badulla
district.

Research Objectives
 To develop a Water Quality Index (WQI) for groundwater in Badulla district with respect to
potable water quality standards and analyze the spatial variation of water quality parameters
and WQI of groundwater over the area.

 To investigate the groundwater data using different analytical methods and study the
relationship among parameters as well as other influencing factors.
5. Literature Review
 According to the previous studies, approximately 65% of groundwater in the world is utilized for drinking
purposes whereas 20% and 15% of groundwater are being used for agricultural and industrial activities
respectively (Adimalla and Venkatayogi 2017; Adimalla et al. 2019).

 The suitability of groundwater, specially for drinking purposes depends mainly on its quality.(Alcamo 2019).

 It has been revealed that contamination of this groundwater due to various causes may ultimately result;
 Availability of poor drinking water.
 Reduction in the quantity of water sources.
 High cost for water purification. High cost for alternative water supplies.
 Most importantly potential for human health problems. (Chandrajith et al. 2020).

 Moreover, groundwater pollution may also highly threatens economic development, and social prosperity
(Milovanovic 2007).
 Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain Etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka has received much attention over the last
two decades and many scientists assumed and proposed that prolonged consumption of drinking water
with high levels of contaminants are the root causes for the progression of the CKDu. (Dissanayake 2005;
Ileperuma et al. 2009)
 The pattern of distribution of CKDu was spread outside the NCP and it was diverted to the UP where 85% of
the drinking water requirements of the rural communities are acquired from shallow and deep wells
(Perera and Gonawala 2008).

Year Diabetes Kidney Cancer Non-Communicable disease list of Badulla District

Disease

2016 76,100 5,920 25,151

2017 74,895 8,662 22,419
2018 53,480 19,370 -
2019 61,401 33,855 -
2020 83,186 35,996 27,969 Source : Regional Director’s Office of Health Services

 Development of water quality indices is considered as the most effective tool of assessing water quality.
 In water quality indices, a number of water quality parameters such as pH, major anion levels, major cation
levels, and levels of trace elements are incorporated in a mathematical equation to rate the water quality
defining its suitability for human consumption. (Logeshkumaran et al. 2015)
6. Reference
1. Panabokke C, Perera A (2005) Groundwater resources of Sri Lanka. Water Resources Board, Colombo, Sri Lanka,
pp 1–28

2. Amarathunga and Kazama. Impact of Land Use on Surface Water Quality: A Case Study in the Gin River Basin, Sri
Lanka. Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2016), pp. 1–13.

3. Chandrajith R, Diyabalanage S, Dissanayake C (2020) Geogenic fluoride and arsenic in groundwater of Sri Lanka
and its implications to community health. Groundw Sustain Dev 10:100359

4. Ileperuma O, Dharmagunawardhane H, Herath K (2009) Dissolution of aluminium from sub-standard utensils

under high fluoride stress: a possible risk factor for chronic renal failure in the North-Central Province. J Natl Sci
Found.

5. Perera A, Gonawala J, Wijekoon D (2008) Groundwater quality in Anuradhapura Districy with special reference to
fluoride Groundwater in Sri Lanka. National Academy of Science, Washington, pp 48–64
6. Adimalla N, Venkatayogi S (2017) Mechanism of fluoride enrichment in groundwater of hard rock aquifers in
Medak, Telangana State, South India. Environ Earth Sci 76:45.

7. Adimalla N, Venkatayogi S, Das S (2019) Assessment of fluoride contamination and distribution: a case study
from a rural part of Andhra Pradesh, India. Appl Water Sci 9:1–15.

8. Alcamo J (2019) Water quality and its interlinkages with the sustainable development goals. Curr Opin
Environ Sustain 36:126–140.

9. Milovanovic M (2007) Water quality assessment and determination of pollution sources along the
Axios/Vardar River, Southeastern Europe. Desalination 213:159–173.

10. Logeshkumaran A, Magesh N, Godson PS, Chandrasekar N (2015) Hydro-geochemistry and application of
water quality index (WQI) for groundwater quality assessment, Anna Nagar, part of Chennai City, Tamil
Nadu, India. Appl Water Sci 5:335–343.