Quality Assessment of Surface and Subsurface Water of Damodar River Basin

Hydrogeochemical analyses were carried out on surface and subsurface samples collected from different part of the Damodar river basin. The analytical results show that Calcium and bicarbonate are the dominant cations and anions respectively in surface water, while in subsurface water calcium is replaced by sodium in cationic abundance. The TDS content of subsurface water is two to three times higher than of surface water. The higher TDS of subsurface water may be due to longer residence time, favoring acquisition of solutes through rock weathering. Gibbs variation diagram shows that rock weathering mainly controls chemistry of the Damodar river basin water shows that with few exceptions, subsurface water is suitable for drinking and domestic uses. Based on SAR, RSC and percent Na the surface water fall within the excellent to good quality class and subsurface water within good to permissible limit and it can be used for irrigation without any hazard. However, the high %Na, RSC and SAR values at a few sites restrict its suitability for irrigation purpose. Ca-Na-HCO3 is the dominant hydrochemical facies in surface water while Na-Ca-HCO3 is the common hydrochemical facies in subsurface water