Abstract:
This study intended to evaluate the suitability of groundwater for agriculture and
drinking purposes in Kirankulam village of Batticaloa district. To achieve this,
groundwater samples were collected from 60 sampling points from February to
March 2023 and analyzed for physico-chemical parameters such as pH, EC' TDS,
Ca, Mg, Na, K, Bicarbonate, Carbonate, turbidity, SAR, SSP and Ca2+/Mg2+
The results revealed that, the pH of the irrigation and drinking water used on land
sides varied from 6.4 to 8.6 and 7.3 to 8.4 respectively. Similarly, in sea side it was
found as 6-8.3 and 7.6-8.4 respectively. As far as the EC is concerned land-side
irrigation and drinking water and sea-based irrigation and drinking water ranged
from 0.094 to 0.911 dS/m,0.3 to 0.927 dS/m, 0.469 Io 1.376 dS/m, and0.344 to
1.349 dS/m. Comparatively higher EC and TDS values were observed in the water at
sea side than the land side.
Turbidity levels for land-side irrigation and drinking water as well as sea-side
irrigation and drinking water ranged from 0.04 to 328 NTU, 0.01 to 14.35 NTU, 0.38
to 23.64 NTU, and 0.01-2.23 NTU, respectively. Respectively. It shows higher values
in land side areas.
According to the results, parameters such as Ca, Mg, K, Na, carbonate and
bicarbonate were within acceptable range for irrigation and drinking purpose.
The WQI revealed 66.6% of tube well sample are good water quality, 10% belong to
the poor water category, and 23.3% to the excellent water quality category from the
study site.
