Water quality index for the assessment of groundwater quality in the Sabour block of Bhagalpur district, Bihar

Groundwater samples were collected from the different locations of Sabour block of Bhagalpur district, Bihar to assess the groundwater quality using water quality index (WQI). Based on global positioning system (GPS) 59 groundwater samples were collected from the different sources at different depths. A single mathematical approach was identified using several parameters integrated to represent a single value for evaluating groundwater quality called as WQI. In this study twelve parameters, namely, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolve salt (TDS), Hardness, calcium ion (Ca⁺²), magnesium ion (Mg⁺²), sodium ion (Na⁺), potassium ion (K⁺), carbonate ion (CO₃⁻²), bicarbonate ion (HCO₃⁻), chloride ion (Cl⁻) and fluoride ion (F-) were used for calculating WQI. The computed WQI shows that 1.69% of water sample falls in excellent categories and 47.45% falls in the good water category, 27.11% of water samples were found poor as well as approximate 17% found very poor and remaining 6.77% samples are found unsuitable for drinking purposes as far as drinking standards are concerned.

• 49.14% of groundwater samples fall good to excellent water quality status while 6.77% of the samples were unsuitable for drinking purpose in the Sabour block.