Karnal district (Latitude: 29°25’05”-29°59’20” N and Longitude: 76°27’40”-77°13’08”E) falls in the north-east part of the Haryana State. The river Yamuna, which marks the eastern boundary of the Haryana State as well as Karnal district, provides the major drainage in the area. About 70% of the net irrigated area is covered through ground water, with rice- wheat being the major crop rotation. The district is characterized by semiarid climate and is a part of Indo- Gangetic alluvial plains which contribute a large share of food grains to national buffer stock. The overexploitation of hitherto fresh groundwater in the district is leading to not only alarming decline in watertable but also deterioration in quality in certain pockets. The current average water table depth in the district is about 20 m and deep submersible tubewells at 50–100 m depth have replaced the centrifugal pumps in almost entire district. Water samples were collected from 67 locations during pre and post-monsoon seasons of the year 2011, and were subjected to analysis for chemical characteristics. The type of water that predominates in the study area was of sodium-calcium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate type during pre and post-monsoon seasons of the year 2011 respectively, based on hydro-chemical facies. Based on chemical analysis, the pre and post monsoon water samples were classified as per different standard irrigation criteria to study the chemical changes resulting due to rain and natural recharge.
Groundwater, chemical characters, chemical classification, SAR, RSC, USSL diagram
