Hydrogeochemical assessment of Moradabad city, an important industrial town of Uttar Pradesh, India

An attempt has been made to understand the hydrochemistry of Moradabad city, a major industrial town of western Uttar Pradesh. For this purpose a total of 188 samples for both the seasons (pre- and post-monsoon of 2012 and 2013) were collected and analyzed for major cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺) and anions (Cl⁻, HCO₃ ⁻, SO₄ ⁻, NO₃ ⁻ and F⁻) and 14 samples collected in 2013 were analyzed for trace elements. The groundwater is slightly acidic to alkaline in nature and moderately hard to very hard. Elevated concentration of most of the major ions and trace elements is observed in the area. On the basis of Piper Trilinear plot groundwater has been identified as Na–Cl–SO₄ type in pre-monsoon and Na–HCO₃ type in post-monsoon season. Base-exchange indices along with meteoric genesis indices demonstrate that groundwater in all the four seasons belong to alkali bicarbonate type and are of shallow meteoric water percolation type. The concentration of the trace elements like (Al, Fe, Se and As) is higher than the permissible limits. Correlation of SiO₂ with Cl and TDS was done to assess the processes responsible for altering the groundwater chemistry. Water quality index maps show that the groundwater in the north eastern and central parts of the study area is unsuitable for drinking purpose. A comparison of spatial distribution of EC and Cl with those of WQI depicts a strong correlation. The study, thus, suggests the poor groundwater quality of Moradabad city. Urban sprawl, population explosion, industrial expansion heavily affected the water quality of the study area.