Original article

Geographic Information System

and groundwater quality mapping
in Panvel Basin, Maharashtra, India
S. Anbazhagan Æ Archana M. Nair

drinking, agricultural and industrial purposes. Further, it

Abstract Panvel Basin of Raigarh district, is possible to understand the change in quality due to rock
Maharashtra, India is the study area for groundwater water interaction or any type of anthropogenic influence.
quality mapping using the Geographic Information Groundwater often consists of seven major chemical ele-
System (GIS). The study area is typically covered by ments- Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+1, K+1, Cl)1, HCO3)1 and SO4)2.
Deccan basaltic rock types of Cretaceous to Eocene Hence, hydrogeochemical studies can be conducted by
age. Though the basin receives heavy rainfall, it analyzing water samples based on these components. The
frequently faces water scarcity problems as well as study area for the present work is the Panvel Basin due
water quality problems in some specific areas. north of the Raigarh district of Maharashtra (Fig. 1). In the
Hence, a GIS based groundwater quality mapping present study, post- monsoon water samples were
has been carried out in the region with the help of collected (December 2001 and January 2002) from 19
data generated from chemical analysis of water locations. Pre-monsoon (May 2002) water samples were
samples collected from the basin. Groundwater collected from 25 locations. The water quality of dug well
samples show quality exceedence in terms of and bore well samples for both seasons were compared to
chloride, hardness, TDS and salinity. These determine any changes in the concentration of various
parameters indicate the level of quality of constituents due to evaporation and precipitation. The
groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes. physical parameters taken into consideration are color,
Idrisi 32 GIS software was used for generation of odor, turbidity and temperature. The chemical parameters
various thematic maps and for spatial analysis and taken into consideration are hydrogen ion concentration,
integration to produce the final groundwater quality specific conductance, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), total
map. The groundwater quality map shows fragments hardness and all major cations and anions. The purpose of
pictorially representing groundwater zones that are the study is to understand the groundwater quality in the
desirable and undesirable for drinking and basin and pictorially represent it using the Geographic
irrigation purposes. Information System (GIS). GIS is an effective tool for
storing large volumes of data that can be correlated spa-
Keywords GIS Æ Groundwater Æ Quality Æ India tially and retrieved for the spatial analysis and integration
to produce the desirable output. GIS has been used by
scientists of various disciplines for spatial queries, analysis
and integration for the last three decades (Burrough and
McDonnell 1998). A number of studies were conducted to
Introduction determine potential sites for groundwater exploration in
diverse geological set ups using remote sensing and GIS
Water quality analysis is one of the more important issues techniques (Krishnamurthy and Srinivas 1995; Kamaraju
in groundwater studies. The hydrogeochemical study re- 1997; Srivastava and others 1997; Srivastava and Battach-
veals the zones and quality of water that are suitable for arya 2000). Most of the groundwater studies based on GIS
are concentrated on the preparation of hydrogeomor-
phological maps, interpretation of lineaments and inte-
grated terrain analysis. Several hydrogeochemical studies
Received: 2 June 2003 / Accepted: 28 October 2003 have been conducted in the surrounding areas. Lekha Siraz
Published online: 15 January 2004 (1996, unpublished PhD thesis) has demarcated fresh
ª Springer-Verlag 2004
groundwater potential zones and salt water intrusion along
Vasai-Palghar coastal tracts of Western Deccan Volcanic
S. Anbazhagan (&) Æ A.M. Nair province, India. She found that the majority of the coastal
Department of Earth Sciences, groundwater samples are of Ca2+ - Mg2+ - Cl) - SO42) type.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, The Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA
Powai, 400076 Mumbai, India
E-mail: [email protected] 1991 unpublished report) has carried out chemical analy-
Tel.: +91-22-25767255 sis of groundwater samples in the Panvel Basin both from
Fax: +91-22-25763480 bore wells and dug wells for three seasons: October 1990,

DOI 10.1007/s00254-003-0932-9 Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761 753

 Original article

Fig. 1
Location map

February 1991 and May 1991. Lunkard and Raymahashay

(1986) studied the water chemistry of the basaltic aquifers
in India. They concluded that groundwater from basaltic
aquifers are essentially of Mg2+- HCO3 type. Locsey and
Cox (2003) arrived at the same conclusion that ground-
water in the basaltic region is mostly of Mg-Ca-Na- HCO3
type.
Panvel Basin is occupied by the Deccan basaltic rocks of
Cretaceous to Eocene age. The area falls within the Bushe
Formation of Lonavala Subgroup (Subbarao 1988). The
geology map available with the GSDA report is used as the
basis for this study. The map was updated and new
lithological contacts were interpreted through digitally
processed IRS IC LISS III satellite data. The various
lithological boundaries were interpreted from False Color
Composite (FCC) and Principle Component Analysis
(PCA) of satellite data. Das and Mukherjee (2002) have
used standard FCC bands of 2, 3 and 4 from IRS 1B LISS II
Fig. 2
data to delineate various basaltic units for the Konkan Geology map of Panvel Basin
coastal tract. The same procedure was adopted for the
present study with the help of Principal Component
Analysis. The geological succession of the area given in the ings are reduced to plains. This results in the formation of
GSDA report (GSDA 1991 unpublished report) has been residual hills and ridges. Massive basalt gives less reflec-
used as a reference. There are two units identified within tance than the amygdaloidal type and appears dark in the
the Deccan traps. The upper unit is of amygdaloidal and PCA image. Massive basalts are mostly exposed in the
vesicular type while the lower unit is massive trap rock. In eastern part of the basin.
the upper unit vesicles are spherical in shape and are not In the study area, hilltops in the eastern region are covered
interconnected. The lower unit is feebly jointed and with thick vegetation. This is due to thick soil cover
fractured and moderately weathered. There is no marker formed by in-situ weathering of basalts. These areas are
separating these two units. Amygdaloidal basalt, massive seen as dark red patches in the FCC. These areas can be
basalt and weathered basalt were delineated using Princi- differentiated in the PCA image due to the change in
pal Component 1 (Fig. 2). Field data has been used for reflectance pattern. The amygdaloidal basalt is light to
cross checking the geology map generated with the help of dark brown in color and fine-grained in the hand speci-
digitally processed output. men. The size of the amygdales varies and they are filled
Massive basalts occur as pockets in the plains and some- with secondary minerals like zeolite, calcite and crypto-
times grade to amygdaloidal basalt type. Most of the hills crystalline silica. This is the major rock type found in the
and ridges are of the massive basalt type. Massive basalt is study area and is exposed in many wells. Zeolites are seen
exposed in very few areas such as road cuttings, along in macroscopic as well as in microscopic study. Some open
riverbeds and well sections and is very fine grained, vesicles were also found, which are spherical, elliptical,
compact, dark gray in color with negligible amounts of pipe or irregular in shape. In many places the rock was
amygdales. Spheroidal weathering is commonly observed highly weathered to the extent that the grains have become
in this type of basalt. Massive basalts are resistant to loose. The cavities filled with secondary minerals like
weathering; hence, it remains as such while its surround- zeolite give amygdaloidal basalt a spotted appearance in

754 Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761

 Original article

the FCC and a brighter reflectance in the PCA image. were carried out in the months of December, 2001 to
Amygdaloidal basalts are exposed in many locations either January, 2002 for the post-monsoon period and during
in a fresh or weathered state. It has also been exposed May, 2002 for the pre-monsoon period. The fieldwork
towards the western central part of the basin. This is in included water level measurements, well inventory and
agreement with the lithology delineated from digitally collection of water samples from dug wells and bore wells
processed satellite data. and the study of geological and geomorphological features.
Weathered basalts are either massive or amygdaloidal and Observation well data, rainfall data and litholog data for
have undergone weathering by different physical and bore holes as well as geological and hydrogeological data
chemical agents. These will have a yellowish white were collected from GSDA, Belapur. Laboratory work in-
appearance in the FCC and can be easily distinguished in cluded petrographic studies of a few samples collected
the PCA image where it shows a yellowish color. A during field visits and chemical analysis for major element
majority of the plains in the Panvel Basin are comprised of constituents in groundwater samples. Followed by water
weathered basalts of amygdaloidal or massive type. quality analysis, thematic maps were generated and digi-
In the study area, there are several dykes of basaltic nature tized using Idrisi 32 GIS software developed by Clark Labs
with trends mostly in a N-S direction. Along Bombay-Pune (Idrisi 32 Release2 2001). Using Idrisi GIS software, spatial
National Highway, a basaltic dyke has been encountered in analysis and integration were carried out for drinking and
a road cutting. This dyke has been determined from the irrigation water quality mapping in the basin.
satellite image as a lineament extending several kilometers.
The basaltic dyke can be distinguished from the country
rock due to the presence of biscuit-type joints that are a
conspicuous feature. Recent sediments of lacustrine-type Chemical analysis
mud deposits ranging in thickness from 5 to 10 m are
deposited along the Panvel creek and in between the inter- In the study area, the monsoon continues for quiet a long
stream areas. A fresh water alluvial deposit also occurs duration. It starts in June and continues up to the month
along the Panvel creek. of October. Post-monsoon water samples were collected
from 19 locations during the period of December 2001 and
January 2002. Pre-monsoon water samples were collected
at 25 locations during the month of May 2002 (Fig. 4).
Methodology Chemical analyses were carried out for the major ion
concentrations of the water samples collected from dif-
The study is carried out with the help of four major ferent locations in the basin. The analytical data can be
components: input from remote sensing data, topographic used for the classification of water for utilitarian purposes,
sheets, data available from GSDA and data collected dur- solving problems of saline water intrusion, or ascertaining
ing field visits (Fig. 3). The IRS IC satellite data of 1996 various factors on which the chemical characteristics of
acquired from the National Remote Sensing Agency for the waters depend. For greater interpretability, the analytical
Panvel Basin was used for the generation of various digi- data are represented in Piper–Trilinear plots. Maximum
tally processed outputs like FCC and PCA. From these and minimum concentrations of major ions for ground-
outputs the original geology map was updated. Field visits water samples collected in both seasons are given in

Fig. 3
Flow chart showing the methodology adopted

Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761 755

 Original article

projecting the position of the plots in the triangular fields.

Different types of groundwater can be distinguished by
their plotting position, occupying certain sub-areas of the
diamond-shaped field. Piper–Trilinear plots were made for
the samples collected during pre-monsoon and post-
monsoon field visits. Aquachem software is used for the
plotting of piper-trilinear diagrams (Scientific Software
Group, Utah 1998). From the plots, it can be found that
calcium and magnesium ions are the dominant cations.
Most of the points fall in the field in which strong acids
exceed weak acids. Compared to the post-monsoon water
sample plots, pre-monsoon plots show higher concentra-
tions of chloride and sulfate ions along with calcium and
magnesium ions (Fig. 5a, b). This can be explained in
terms of the concentration process, which is dominant
during the pre-monsoon period when evaporation exceeds
precipitation.
The GSDA, in Alibagh has carried out chemical analyses of
groundwater samples in the Panvel Basin from bore wells
and dug wells for three seasons: October 1990, February
Fig. 4 1991 and May 1991. These chemical data have been used to
Groundwater sample locations plot Piper-Trilinear diagrams. For all three seasons, the
dug well samples when compared with bore well samples
Table 1. The analytical data were used for the spatial have lower chloride concentration. Dug well samples show
analysis and integration for groundwater quality mapping. a calcium and magnesium ions dominancy and weak acid
The groundwater samples collected from the Panvel Basin exceeds strong acid. The dominancy of calcium and
are colorless, odorless and free from turbidity. Measure-
ment of temperature and pH was done during the field
visits. The temperature measured for groundwater samples
is found to be constant at 27
C during post-monsoon field
visits (December 2001 and January 2002) and 30
C during
pre-monsoon field visits (May 2002). Water to be used for
drinking purposes should be free from color, turbidity,
odor and microorganisms. However, these do not fall in
the realm of chemical quality. Chemically, the water
should be soft, low in dissolved solids and free from
poisonous constituents.
The Piper diagram is extensively used to understand
problems concerning the geochemical evolution of
groundwater. The diagram consists of three distinct fields
– two triangular fields and a diamond shaped field. The
percentage equivalents per mole (epm) values are used for
the plot (Todd 1980). The overall characteristic of the
water is represented in the diamond- shaped field by

Table 1
Maximum and minimum concentration of major ions in pre and post
monsoon groundwater samples

Ions Post-monsoon samples Pre-monsoon samples

(mg/l) (mg/l)

Min Max Min Max

Na+ 8 150 9 100

K+ 3 50 0 71
Ca+ 55 150 16 132
Mg+ 10 36 14 123
CO3) 10 70 0 100
HCO3) 90 245 35 205 Fig. 5a,b
Cl) 32 227 37 390 a Post-monsoon groundwater samples plotted in Piper-Trilinear
SO4) 43 68 51 408 diagram. b Pre-monsoon groundwater samples plotted in Piper-
Trilinear diagram

756 Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761

 Original article

magnesium ions is attributed to the basaltic lithology of simple method of triangulation and interpolation tech-
the basin. niques. Water quality maps were generated for chloride,
TDS and hardness in the study area showing areas falling
under desirable limits and areas falling under undesirable
limits. A salinity hazard map was also prepared after
Spatial analysis for groundwater generating contours. The salinity hazard map shows re-
gions with low, medium and high salinity hazards. Though
quality groundwater samples were not taken from mud flat areas,
the area was classified as a region of undesirable quality
Groundwater quality gives a clear picture about the
since from knowledge it is known that this area falls within
usability of the water for different purposes. There are
the creek region and has a higher concentration of chlo-
specific standards for quality of water for different pur-
ride, hardness and TDS (Reddy 2002, unpublished M.Tech
poses. Drinking water should satisfy many quality criteria,
Thesis).
as it is the most sensitive among various uses. The stan-
dard quality for drinking water has been specified by the
World Health Organization (WHO 1971). It has given the Chloride concentration
permissible and desirable limits for the presence of various The chloride ion is the most predominant natural form of
elements in groundwater (Table 2). Among various ele- the element chlorine and is extremely stable in water. The
ments, from the analysis carried out in Panvel Basin, it has range of chloride is found to vary between 32 to 227 mg/l
been revealed that the chloride concentration, TDS and for post-monsoon water samples and 37 to 390 mg/l for
hardness exceed the desirable limit at many locations. Pre- pre-monsoon samples. As per WHO (1971) and Indian
monsoon groundwater samples show maximum deviation, standards (ISI 1983) the desirable limit for chloride is
as this is the time when precipitation is less so that the 250 mg/l. For the study area it has been found that in
concentration of ions will increase considerably. Electrical certain locations the chloride concentration exceeds this
conductivity, which is a measure of salinity also shows limit for pre-monsoon samples. Chloride concentration at
variation and falls in three different classes—low, medium different locations was plotted and using the triangulation
and high salinity hazard classes. Overlay analysis was method and values were interpolated to generate contours.
performed for generating a quality map where the various The contour map was digitized and imported into the GIS
quality maps were overlaid one above the other (Eastman environment as a parameter for quality analysis. Areas
1995). It is based on Boolean logic where only two values with chloride concentrations above the desirable limit
are assigned, i.e. ‘1 ‘and ‘0’ (Burrough and McDonnell were delineated and differentiated from areas having
1998). In this context ‘1’ stands for desirable and ‘0’ for values below the desirable limit (Fig. 6). Ranking was
undesirable water quality. assigned for these classes. A rank of ‘10’ was assigned for
areas having chloride values within the desirable limit and
GIS and groundwater quality mapping a rank ‘1’ for areas having chloride concentration above
for drinking water the desirable limit.
The quality of the groundwater samples has been analyzed
separately for drinking and irrigation purposes. As there is Total dissolved solids
no major industry in the study area, quality analysis for Total dissolved solids (TDS) denote the various types of
industry is not significant. Groundwater quality for minerals present in water in the dissolved form. In natural
drinking water purposes was analyzed by considering the waters, dissolved solids are composed of mainly carbon-
WHO (1971) standards. It has been found that some ates, bicarbonates, chlorides, sulfate, phosphate, silica,
samples show chloride, hardness and TDS values above calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Concentra-
desirable limits. The values were plotted in the respective tions of TDS are an important parameter in drinking water
sample locations and contours were generated using the and other water quality standards. Caroll (1962) has

Table 2
Standards for physical and Quality WHO International Standards, 1971 Indian Standards Institution, 1983
chemical quality of drinking
water (Karanth 1987) Highest desirable Maximum Highest Maximum
permissible desirable permissible

Taste and odor Unobjectionable Unobjectionable

pH 7–8.5 6.5–9.2 6.5–8.5 8.5–9.2
Total dissolved 500 1,500 500 1,500
solids (mg/l)
Total hardness 100 500 300 600
as CaCO3(mg/l)
Calcium (mg/l) 75 200 75 200
Magnesium (mg/l) 30 150 30 100
Chloride (mg/l) 200 600 250 1,000
Sulfate (mg/l) 200 400 150 400

Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761 757

 Original article

Fig. 6 Fig. 7
Chloride distribution in Panvel Basin TDS distribution in Panvel Basin

Table 3 Table 4
Water quality classification based on TDS (Caroll 1962) Classification of water based on hardness by Sawyer and McCartly
(1967)
TDS in mg/l Water quality Post monsoon Pre-monsoon
samples samples Hardness as Water class Post-monsoon Pre-monsoon
(mg/l) (mg/l) CaCO3 (ppm) samples samples

0–1,000 Fresh water 121–422 116–920 0–75 Soft

1,000–10,000 Brackish water 75–150 Moderately 85–125
10,000–100,000 Salty water hard (3 samples)
>100,000 Brine 150–3,000 Hard 170–440 155–835
(16 samples) (25 samples)
>3,000 Very hard
proposed four classes of water based on TDS values (Ta-
ble 3). In a majority of the water samples TDS in the study
The hardness values for the study area are found to be
area falls within the fresh water class of Caroll’s classifi-
cation. However, in some locations the pre-monsoon val- high for almost all locations for pre-monsoon and post-
ues are above the desirable limit of WHO (1971) standards. monsoon water samples and determined to fall above the
Hence, the study area was delineated into two classes: desirable limit of WHO’s specification (WHO 1971).
desirable and undesirable. A rank of ‘10’ was assigned for Hence, the Indian standard given by Indian Standard
Institution (ISI 1983) is taken into consideration for this
the desirable class and a rank of ‘1’for the undesirable class
(Fig. 7). parameter where the desirable limit is higher. The desir-
able limit for WHO is 100 mg/l (WHO 1971) while the
Hardness Indian standard is 300 mg/l (ISI 1983). Contours were
Water hardness is caused primarily by the presence of generated using the same procedure as for chloride to
cations such as calcium and magnesium and anions such delineate areas of desirable hardness value from areas with
as carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride and sulfate in water. the undesirable hardness value (Fig. 8). A rank of ‘10’ is
Water hardness has no known adverse effects; however, assigned for areas with desirable hardness and ‘1’ for areas
some evidence indicates its role in heart disease (Schroe- with undesirable hardness values.
der 1960). Hard water is unsuitable for domestic use. In
the Panvel Basin, the total hardness varies between 100 to Spatial integration and quality mapping
440 ppm for the post-monsoon period. For the pre-mon- The three thematic maps with parameters such as chloride
soon period, the value varies from 155 to 835 ppm. concentration, hardness and TDS having desirable and
According to Sawyer and McCartly’s (1967) classification undesirable classes were integrated using the Boolean logic
for hardness, 3 samples fall under the moderately hard of the overlay module available in Idrisi32 GIS software.
class and 16 samples fall under the hard class for post- The function performed is ‘addition’ (Eastman 1995). The
monsoon water samples. The hardness classification is final output is a pictorial representation of groundwater
given in Table 4. quality for drinking purposes in the Panvel Basin (Fig. 9).

758 Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761

 Original article

Table 5
Groundwater quality based on RSC (residual sodium carbonate)

RSC in equiva- Remark on Post-monsoon Pre-monsoon

lents per mole quality samples samples

<1.25 Good )4.37 to )1.36 )15.04 to )0.91

1.25–2.5 Doubtful
>2.5 Unsuitable

Table 6
Sodium hazard classes

Sodium SAR in Remark Post-mon- Pre-mon-

hazard equivalents on quality soon soon
class per mole samples samples
(alkalinity)

S1 10 Excellent 0.18–2.37 0.25–2.68

S2 10–18 Good
S3 18–26 Doubtful
S4 and S5 >26 Unsuitable

Fig. 8 quality of groundwater for irrigation purposes. The

Groundwater hardness in Panvel Basin
important chemical constituents that affect the suitability
of water for irrigation are the total concentration of soluble
salts, relative proportion of bicarbonate to calcium and
magnesium and relative proportion of sodium to calcium.
Water quality problems in irrigation include salinity and
alkalinity. Excessive sodium content in water makes it
unsuitable for irrigation purposes. In addition to this, the
quantity of bicarbonate and carbonate in excess of alkaline
earth elements also influences the suitability of water for
irrigation purposes (Table 5). This excess is denoted by
Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) and is determined by
the formula given below (Karanth 1987).



RSC ¼ HCO3
þ CO32

Ca2þ þ Mg 2þ ð1Þ

The sodium hazard in irrigation water is expressed by the

Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) which is given by the
relation (Karanth 1987)
.pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
SAR ¼ Na fðCa þ Mg Þ=2g ð2Þ

in which concentrations are expressed in equivalent per

mole values. Low sodium water (S1) can be used for irri-
Fig. 9
Groundwater quality for drinking water purposes gation on almost all soils. As both pre-monsoon and post-
monsoon groundwater samples fall in the low sodium (S1)
category, there is no hazard of alkalinity (Richards 1954,
Nearly two thirds of the area is covered by groundwater Table 6).
with a decent quality. About one third of the basin falls in
the undesirable category. The zones of the undesirable Salinity hazard
category are located towards the northern and southern Most of the groundwater samples fall in the medium
parts of the basin. salinity hazard (C2) as per the salinity hazard classification
in the basin. One sample falls in the low salinity hazard
Groundwater quality analysis for irrigation category (C1) while a few of the samples fall in the high
Water quality, soil types and cropping practices play an salinity hazard category (C3). Groundwater samples that
important role in irrigation. Agriculture is found to be one fall in the low salinity hazard class (C1) can be used for
of the major land-use practices in the study area. Most of irrigation of most crops and the majority of soils. How-
the cultivated lands in the Panvel Basin are irrigated by ever, some leaching is required, but this occurs under
groundwater either from dug wells or bore wells. There- normal irrigation practices except in soils of extremely low
fore, it is necessary to perform the analysis of chemical permeability. Groundwater that falls in the medium

Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761 759

 Original article

Table 7
Salinity hazard classes Salinity EC in Remark on Post-monsoon Pre-monsoon
hazard micromhos/cm quality samples samples
class

C1 100–250 Excellent 243 (one sample) 230 (one sample)

C2 250–750 Good 243–724 310–740
(17 samples) (15 samples)
C3 750–2,250 Doubtful 839 (one sample) 800–1,830
(9 samples)
C4 and C5 >2,250 Unsuitable

salinity hazard class (C2) can be used if a moderate

amount of leaching occurs. Plants with moderate salt tol-
erance can be grown in most cases without any special
practices for salinity control. Hence, no special measures
are required in the study area for salinity hazards. How-
ever, a few samples fall in the high salinity hazard class
(C3) (Table 7). High salinity water (C3) cannot be used on
soils with restricted drainage. Even with adequate drain-
age, special management for salinity control may be
required and plants with good salt tolerance should be
selected. Such areas need special attention as far as
irrigation is concerned.
The quality of water for irrigation purposes depends on
the salinity and alkalinity. The EC value for the samples
will give the salinity value for the area. The pre-monsoon
water samples from the study area fall in three classes of
salinity hazards: excellent, good and doubtful. Contours
were constructed and the entire basin was divided into
these three classes. Thus, three classes of polygons were
digitized. The salinity hazard map shows that the majority
of the basin area falls in ‘good’ category (Fig. 10). Similar Fig. 10
to the drinking water quality map, the doubtful category Salinity hazard map
falls towards the northern and southern parts of the basin.

Integrated quality mapping for irrigation. Integrating groundwater quality for drink-
The spatial integration for quality mapping was carried ing purposes and the salinity map can pictorially represent
out using overlay analysis in Idrisi32 GIS software. groundwater zones favorable for drinking purposes, irri-
Groundwater quality for irrigation can be known from the gation purposes, zones for both drinking and irrigation
salinity map. The groundwater quality map for drinking purposes and zones not favorable for either drinking or
purposes was integrated with the groundwater quality map irrigation purposes (Fig. 11). Prioritization of zones on the

Fig. 11
Integrated groundwater quality map of Pan-
vel Basin

760 Environmental Geology (2004) 45:753–761

 Original article

basis of quality for drinking and irrigation can be used for Eastman JR (1995) Idrisi for Windows- A users guide. Version1.0,
the planning and preservation of groundwater resources. Clark Labs, Worcester, MA, 120 pp
Indian Standards Institution (1983) Indian Standard Specification
for drinking water, IS 10500
Kamaraju MVV (1997) Ground-water potential evaluation of
West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh State, India- A GIS
Conclusions approach. Ground Water 34(2):318–334
Karanth KR (1987) Groundwater assessment, development and
In the present study, the GIS technique has successfully management. Tate McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 720 pp
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that the excess concentration of chloride, TDS and hard- 43:698–713
ness at some locations has determined an undesirable Lunkard SK, Raymahashay BC (1986) Groundwater quality in
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areas in the basin are having high salinity hazards. Such 19:389–398
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Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the death rates from certain chronic and degenerative diseases in
Groundwater Survey and Development agency (GSDA), in Bela- the United States. J Chron Disease 12:586–591
pur, in general and Dr. P. Aurangbadker, Deputy Director, GSDA, Srivastava PK, Bhattacharya AK (2000) Delineation of ground-
Belapur in particular for providing the necessary data. water potential zones in a hard rock terrain of Bargarh district,
Orissa using IRS Data. Photonirvachak- J Indian Soc Remote
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