ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WASTEWATER IRRIGATION ON GROUNDWATER QUALITY – A CASE STUDY OF AJMER CITY, RAJASTHAN (INDIA)

A study was conducted to monitor the ground water quality at selected sites of Ajmer city. The various physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals were analysed in groundwater samples. Physico-chemical analysis of samples showed slightly alkaline nature of groundwater. Except EC and TDS, all the studied parameters were under the prescribed limits WHO. Heavy metals in water samples were analysed by using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (ECL-AAS-4141). Heavy metal analysis indicated that except Cd, all the studied heavy metals were under the permissible limit and Ni, Cu and Cr were below detectable limit at all sites. The present results demonstrated that the general order of decreasing metals concentration in the ground water was Zn > Cd > Pb > Fe. Piper Trilinear diagram interpretations were made to know the chemical type of the groundwater. It reveals that in about 85% of the samples none of the cations and anions exceeds fifty percent.