Affiliations: Department of Geography, Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam-530 003, India | Geography Discipline, Indira Gandhi National Open
University, New Delhi-110 068
Abstract: An integrated approach of geographical information system (GIS),
global positioning system (GPS) and water quality index (WQI) studies has been
effectively used for identifying the spatial distribution for quality of
groundwater zones in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), a
coastal city of Andhra Pradesh state. Physico-chemical analysis was carried out
for various selected parameters such as pH, alkalinity, electrical conductivity
(EC), total hardness (TH), calcium hardness (CaH), sodium (Na), potassium (K),
chlorides (Cl), sulphates (SO_4), fluorides (F) and indirectly estimated
parameters like total dissolved solids (TDS), magnesium hardness (MgH),
carbonates plus bicarbonates (CO_3+HCO_3) by adopting standard methods and
compared with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The analytical results
revealed that most of the groundwater was found to be in polluted category. The
GIS analysis of spatial distribution map of the overall water quality index
revealed that only nine percent of groundwater during pre-monsoon and around
sixteen percent in post-monsoon is suitable for drinking purpose.
