Hydrochemical investigations of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigational purposes: two case studies of Koprivnica-Križevci County (Croatia) and district Allahabad (India)

The hydrochemical study was conducted to outline the suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigational purposes of two distinctly located geographical areas, Koprivnica-Križevci County, Croatia and district Allahabad, India. A total 160 groundwater samples were collected from sources (in hot and cold seasons) of both countries during 2 years (2011–2012) to evaluate the recent hydrochemical status of groundwater. Samples were analyzed for 12 various physico-chemical parameters.The Koprivnica-Križevci County has Ca–HCO₃ water type, whereas in Allahabad it prevails as Mg–HCO₃. All the parameters were below the maximum acceptable value (MAV) of standards (WHO, US EPA, Indian and Croatian Standards). The usage and consumption of groundwater should be of no concern with regard to inorganic pollutants. Irrigational indices (residual sodium carbonate content, magnesium hazard, permeability index, exchangeable sodium percentage, and salinity hazard) showed that groundwater is suitable for irrigational purposes. Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) has resulted into four groups due to the processes on natural and anthropogenic factors. The principal component analysis (PCA) has shown that first factor (all physico-chemical analyzed variables) explains 27.75% of the total variability and another factor (geographical distribution) accounts only for 10.46%. We found that local environmental conditions are more important predictor than geographical distribution. The present study may be helpful in dealing for further studies concerning groundwater quality issues in the distinctly located geographical areas. The groundwater quality is essential for management and sustainability of water resources, economic development, and human health.