Page 82 - e-Book

Natural water resources have several types of impurities, the qualitative and quantitative

aspects of impurities depends upon the source of water. Leaching of these impurities into the
water through various sources deteriorates water quality. If we take the example of metals

which enters the water system due to several human activities such as mining, usage of metal
materials, weathering of rocks [2-4]. With the increase in population there is increased

pressure to increase the production rate thus developing more and more industries producing
industrial wastes which contains a number of heavy and toxic metals which ultimately entrs

the water bodies. When groundwater is polluted its quality status cannot be restored just by

blocking the pollutants from the source. Therefore, It is essential to monitor the groundwater
quality regularly and implement novel methods to to protect its pollution. One of the most

effective tools to assess the quality of water is Water Quality Index (WQI). WQI is useful to

check if the groundwater is suitable for drinking or not. In this chapter certain parameters to
assess water quality index, sources that degrades Water Quality Index are discussed apart

from some recent developments in the area [5-6]
Substance Types of problems

Iron Encrustation, staining of laundry and toilet fixtures

Manganese Encrustation, staining of laundry and toilet fixtures
Silica Encrustation

Chloride) Portability, Corrosiveness

Fluoride Fluorosis
Nitrate Methemoglobenemia

Sulphate Portability
Calcium and Magnesium Encrustation

Table 1: Showing some important minerals found naturally in ground water and problems

caused by them. (Adapted from [1])
Water on the basis of its quality can be categorised into [7-8]:

1) Potable Water: Suitable for drinking and domestic usages [7, 9].

2) Palatable water: esthetically pleasing. Chemicals may be present which do not pose a threat
to human health [7]

3) Contaminated Water: Also known as polluted water, contains unwanted physical, chemical,
biological, or other substances [7]. The water is unfit for drinking and domestic usage [7].

4) Infected Water: It contains pathogenic organisms [7].

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