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Surface and groundwater quality assessment and identification of hydrochemical characteristics of a south-western coastal area of Bangladesh

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Abstract

In coastal areas of Bangladesh, the problem of getting fresh drinking water is acute since the surface and groundwater of this area are affected by both seawater intrusion and anthropogenic activities. This study aims at assessing the hydrochemistry and quality of surface and groundwater of a south-western coastal area Rupsha Upazila of Bangladesh using geographical information system (GIS) technique. The hydrochemical facies revealed that the surface waters are mainly characterized by Na-Ca-HCO3-Cl and the groundwaters are characterized by Na-Cl-HCO3, indicating mixing composition of the natural water, while the Gibbs diagram indicates mixing processes of both the rock-water and evaporation-crystallization interactions of the surface and groundwater. The comparisons of the water quality parameters with World Health Organization (WHO) and Bangladesh (BD) standards show that surface water quality is better than groundwater in terms of total dissolved solids, chloride, iron, and arsenic concentrations. In surface water, arsenic concentration is within the WHO and BD standard but 40% of the groundwater samples exceeded the standard. Results also showed that 100% of the surface water samples exceeded the Escherichia coli and 62.85% of the groundwater samples exceeded the standard limit. Thus, the surface water of the study area can be a potential source to meet the future challenges for drinking water shortage problems as compared to aquifer water of the area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the laboratory support provided by Mr. Shankar Kumar Sarker and Ms. Morzina Begum, Section Officer (Lab), Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, during the water sample analyses. We would like to give thanks to the officials of Department of Public Health and Engineering, Khulna, Bangladesh (DPHE), for assistance in analyzing the water samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Master of Environment and Sustainability, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Ashek Ahmed

  2. Environmental Science Discipline, Life Science School, Khulna University, Khulna, 9208, Bangladesh

    Ashek Ahmed & Prosun Kumar Ghosh

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The George Washington University, 800 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Mahmudul Hasan

  4. Freese and Nichols, Inc., 2711 N Haskell Avenue, Suite 3300, Dallas, TX, 75204, USA

    Arifur Rahman

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  1. Ashek Ahmed
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  2. Prosun Kumar Ghosh
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  3. Mahmudul Hasan
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  4. Arifur Rahman
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Correspondence to Prosun Kumar Ghosh or Mahmudul Hasan.

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Ahmed, A., Ghosh, P.K., Hasan, M. et al. Surface and groundwater quality assessment and identification of hydrochemical characteristics of a south-western coastal area of Bangladesh. Environ Monit Assess 192, 258 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-8227-0

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