Geochemistry of the River Damodar -the influence of the geology and weathering Environment on the dissolved load

Study of geochemical assessment of river water quality and its possible contamination was carried out with the objective of identifying the occurrence of various geochemical processes and suitability of these water resources for irrigation, potability and other ancillary uses by local inhabitants. Analytical findings were plotted in geochemical facies diagrams to find out the variability in Damodar river water quality. The study revealed that calcium and bicarbonates are the dominant ions in all the samples analyzed. The Piper trilinear diagrams reveal that Ca-HC03 is the dominant hydro-chemical facies in the Damodar river water in the study area. The Wilcox diagram, which shows the plot of percent sodium with the total ionic abundance, indicates that river water in the study area chiefly falls within excellent-to-good quality class. The source of the ions in the water was examined and classified accordingly using Gibb's diagram and the diagram shows that rock weathering plays the key role in controlling the hydro-geochemistry of the Damodar river. Water quality parameters was compared with the prevalent environmental standards indicates that, with few exceptions, the Damodar river water in the study area is fit for drinking and irrigation use and is free from alkali and salinity hazards.