Geostatistical evaluation of groundwater quality distribution of Tonk district, Rajasthan

Groundwater is an important source of drinking water in the semi-arid region of Rajasthan, India. Therefore, it becomes important to assess the groundwater quality. The groundwater chemical data of conductivity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, fluoride, nitrate and chloride of 112 wells were taken from Ground Water Board. Since it is not feasible to collect the data from all the locations in the study area; so, geo-statistical analyst extension of ArcGIS was used to generate the spatial distribution maps of the water quality parameters using the data collected. This tool was used for exploratory data analysis, selection of the best semivariogram model, and cross-validation. The best fit semivariogram model was selected on the basis of root-mean-square standardized error (RMSS), mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), and average standard error (ASE). The spatial distribution maps of all the given parameters are prepared by applying the ordinary kriging interpolation method.