Quantitative assessment of physicochemical constituents as fluoride, iron and nitrate contaminated drinking groundwater in Nashik district, Maharashtra, India

Rapid industrialization and advanced agricultural practices are in vogue. The use of water is also in large quantity. Groundwater sources get polluted by the industrial waste water and agricultural fertilizers. The examination of ground water quality with respect to pH, TDS, Fluoride, Iron and Nitrate content has been carried out in Nashik District of Maharashtra, India. Three different types of sources such as Dug well, Power pump and Hand pump were selected for sampling. Overall fifty samples were collected for the study. Iron was analyzed by using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AA 2001 model) and fluoride was measured by SPANDS method at 570 nm while nitrate concentration was found by the phenol-disulphonic acid method at 410 nm using UV-VIS Spectrophotometer, (Chemito UV2100 model). Fifty percent samples show high nitrate concentration (53-141mg/L); one sample from hand pump category shows 2.0 mg/L fluoride content and four samples from hand pump category show high contents of iron. Therefore, the study revealed that the groundwater sources in the study area are heavily polluted with nitrate and iron.