Assessment and Spatial Distribution of Quality of Groundwater in ZoneII and III, Greater Visakhapatnam, India Using Water Quality Index (WQI) and GIS

Assessment and mapping of quality of groundwater is an important quantity, because the physical and chemical characteristics of groundwater determine its suitability for agricultural, industrial and domestic usages. The present study appraises the groundwater quality of Greater Visakhapatnam, Zone II and III areas with the estimation of water quality index and coupled with GIS technology. Inverse distance weighted (IDW) raster interpolation technique of spatial analyst module in ArcGIS software has been used to generate the spatial distribution of water pollutants of constituents. Based on the analysis, most of the area under study falls in moderately polluted to severely polluted zone. The results revealed that the groundwater was not suitable for drinking purpose in most of the areas due to the influence of sewage, saltwater intrusion, industrial and high urban concentration.