Assessment Of Selected Ground Samples Around A Sugar Factory, Shirol, Maharashtra, India

Ground water quality surrounding a sugar factory was studied for the impact of effluent discharged by the industry by applying multivariate statistical techniques. Although the samples recorded the EC values well within the permissible range and a close assessment of the analysis and the evaluated statistical approach disclosed that the overall quality of ground water was suitable for domestic purpose. Concentrations of cations Na + , K + , Ca + , and Mg + varied from 67 to 43, 2.2 to 1.1, 70 to 106, and 25 to 37 ppm, respectively. Na + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and K + were major cations in chronological order accompanied by HCO 3-, Cl - , and SO 42-for the major anions. Na + was the most widespread cation and K + was the lowest abundant, whereas bicarbonates were the most common and SO 4 was the least significant cation under anions. More than 95% of the samples fall under Doneen's Class I category, and every sample demonstrated SAR values below 10, which indicated high suitability for applying water domestic as well as for crops.


List of notations:
µs/cm is the microsiemens per centimetre mg/L is the milligram per litre TH is the Total Hardness KR is the Kelly's Ratio/ index MAR is the Magnesium Adsorption Ratio RSBC is the Residual Sodium Bicarbonates IWQ is the Irrigation Water Qualit

Introduction
One of the most essential elements of human existence is water.The development and sustainability of ecosystems depend heavily on the availability of water.Given the scarcity of surface water, groundwater is used as a backup source for surface water in the majority of India.It is regarded as a trustworthy alternative source for industrial, domestic, and agricultural activities in arid and semi-arid regions.
Interactions between groundwater and the mineral properties of the aquifer the water flows through have always been the source of variations in groundwater chemistry.The sources' groundwater chemistry variation is investigated, categorized, and assessed using a variety of techniques.Among the techniques that reveal the condition of water are the geo-statistical techniques, multivariate statistical methods, and the water quality index.Aquifer boundaries, groundwater flow paths, and hydrochemical parameters can all be resolved using multivariate statistical techniques, factor analysis, and hierarchical cluster analysis (Qualid et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2001;Locsey and Cox, 2003;Belkhiri et al., 2011;Mostafaei, 2014;Mohamed et al., 2015;Teikeu et al., 2015).According to Love et al. (2004), these instruments are also employed in the distinction between uncontaminated groundwater, mining, sewage pollution, and agricultural practices.HCA was also widely used as an efficient multivariate statistical tool for classification of water and to create geochemical models based on the available data on factor scores (Meng and Maynard, 2001).The parameters that are chemical and physical can also be assessed by contrasting the global permissible limits to ascertain the groundwater quality (WHO 2011; Ayers and Westcot 1994).One of the best and most efficient ways to convey the quality of groundwater for drinking and irrigation is through the use of the water quality index.It is among the best techniques for condensing and presenting data on water quality (Tiri et al. 2018).
The present study prioritizes the use of the water quality index and multivariate statistical analysis of ground water chemistry data for the purpose of classifying ground water with an emphasis on domestic use.

Study Area:
The selected study area is situated in Shirol, a village in the state of Maharshtra, India which is a sugar industry with a crushing capacity of 3000 TPD.Effluent released from the process is treated and discharged.The study area lies between latitudes 16.69 and 16.67 N and 74.46 and 74.47 E. Additionally, it is beneath the Deccan Trap, a geological formation that dates from the Upper Cretaceous to the Lower Eocene.Location of the sugar factory is presented in Fig. 1.Four ground water samples, all from bore-wells were collected during the year 2023-24 to assess the ground water quality for domestic and agricultural use, as shown in Fig. 1.Although surface water source is available, river Panchaganga is 2 km away from the village.

Materials and Methods
In order to collect the samples from the location clean polythene bottles of 2 liters' capacity were used.Bore-well depth varied from 20 to 30 meters.With a multi-parameter monitoring device, pH,, EC, and TDS were measured in situ, and the DO was fixed at the site.With the exception of Na and K, which were obtained using a flame photometer, all other parameter values were recorded by titration and the procedures as in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, APHA were followed.

Water Quality Assessment
Water quality for irrigation is based on a relationship between the four components that comprise the IWQ parameters, which are linked to form a single index value for assessing the suitability of water for irrigation in the study area.The four components are permeability hazards, specific ion toxicity, salinity uncertainty, and other i impacts as per Ayers and Westcot (1985).imsek and Gunduz's (2007) assessment and methodologies for the IWQI were adjusted.From the lowest (1) to the highest (4) points in the technique, all parameters were fixed utilizing the weight coefficient.The salinity hazard is the highest priority factor in the assessment of the IWQ, whereas other effects on sensitive crops are the least significant components.The other two factors, which are listed in decreasing order of importance for irrigation water quality, are permeability threat and specific ion toxicity.

Water Quality Parameters:
Equations 1 to 7 were being used to find the values for irrigation water quality.Sodium Adsorption Ratio: Eq. 1 represents SAR as per the US Salinity Laboratory (Richards, 1954).Higher SAR values in the water increase the risk of Na+, which leads to the development of alkaline soil that is unfriendly to crop production. ( Residual Sodium Bicarbonate: This is calculated using Eq. ( 2) (Gupta 1983).
(2) Magnesium hazard: This is Magnesium Adsorption Ratio (MAR) (Raghunath 1990) which is calculated by Eq. (3) (3) Kelley's Ratio: Kelly's ratio is obtained by using Eq. ( 4) (Kelley 1963), as below: (4) Total Hardness: Total hardness (TH) in milligrams per liter is estimated using Eq. ( 5) (Todd 1980;Raghunath 1987). ( Percentage of Sodium: Sodium concentration in irrigation water is generally denoted by percentage sodium, i.e.Na%.Concentration of Na% can be found by using Eq. ( 6) (Todd 1980).( 6) Permeability Index: WHO (2004) and Doneen (1964) developed a criterion to test the suitability of groundwater for irrigational uses based on soil permeability, which is influenced by the presence of cations and anions in irrigation water.The permeability index (PI) has been characterized by the authors as follows: (7)

4. Results and discussions: Characterization of Ground water:
The general quality of ground water for the study area is represented by the physicochemical parameters as presented in Table Note: BW -Bore-well sample.
Electrical conductivity for the samples varied from 980 µs/cm to 1490 µs/cm, with an average value of 1197.5 µs/cm, which is close to BIS standards of 1500 µs/cm.TDS ranged from 740 ppm to 1210 ppm, with an average of 937.5 ppm.Ground water in the study area may be classified as brackish water with a TDS > 1000 ppm (Selvam et al., 2013).However, in the present study no sample recorded more than 1000 ppm, except at BW4. Hence all bore-wells appeared to be safe except BW4.N, K, Ca, and Mg cation concentrations varied from 44 to 66, 1.3 to 2.1, 71 to 106, and 26 to 36.5 ppm, respectively, with mean values of 53.5, 1.7, 87.15, and 31.13ppm as presented in Table 1.Dissolved anions' (Cl -, and HCO3) concentration varied from 71 to 124 and 220 to 320 ppm, with average recorded concentrations of 96.75 ppm and 279 ppm respectively (Table 1).Major cations in chronological order were Ca 2+ > Na 2+ > Mg 2+ > K + , whereas major anions were HCO3 -> Cl -.Ca + is the most prevalent and K + is the least relevant cation, whereas bicarbonates are the most widespread and Cl -is the least major cation under anions.Further, dissolution of carbonate minerals was suggested with high concentrations of HCO3 -and Ca 2+ ions (Safiur et al., 2017) Ground water quality assessment: WQI is an important index to find the suitability of ground water for human consumption and agricultural use (Avvannavar & Shrihari, 2008;Mishra & Patel, 2001).The WQI was determined based on the weight values of the groups.This study to assess the water quality for domestic and agriculture purpose is presented graphically in Fig. 2 for WQI variations among the sampling points.Ground water was classified into three classes, i.e., low, medium, and high suitability water, based on the WQI (Simsek and Gunduz, 2007), as shown in Table 2. Present study revealed that all of the groundwater samples recorded as suitable for domestic and agriculture purpose.WQI values more than 25 were not observed in any location, whereas medium suitability was found at the BW2 location and the rest of the locations were found to be of high suitability.This clearly demonstrated that 100% of ground water in the study region was classified as having high suitability for domestic and agriculture (Table 2, GW classification).Utilization of the ground water for all the bore-wells can be done safely.(Trivedy and Geol 1984).A high concentration of salt in irrigation water can also result in osmotic pressure in the soil (Thorne and Peterson, 1954).Further, High Na + content in water increases the Na + content of the cropland, adversely affecting the soil permeability and resulting in the soil becoming inapt for seed germination (Jeevanandam et al., 2012).The values of EC under the present study of ground water samples fall under the C3, i.e., the fair (85.7%) to poor category (14.3%) for irrigation purposes (Table 2).The variation in Na% was found to be from 21.11% to 53.86%, with a mean value of 36.49%.As per the classification of ground water based on Na% ( Another important groundwater quality assessment index is the SAR, which is the measure of sodium or alkali hazards to crops (Todd, 1980).High SAR values indicate Ca 2+ or Mg 2+ substitution for Na + in soil through the cation exchange process.Soil permeability is reduced, and air and water circulation are restricted in the soil due to this exchange process.SAR values calculated for the samples in the study area recorded around 1.4 for all samples, indicating high suitability for domestic and agriculture purpose.
Generally, calcium and magnesium ions in ground water exhibit a state of equilibrium (Raju et al., 2011).The presence of a higher concentration of Mg 2+ in groundwater results in alkaline irrigation soil, which adversely affects the crop yielding capacity of the soil.Values greater than 50% MAR are considered harmful for irrigation (Gupta and Gupta, 1987;Raghunath, 1990).The present study revealed that 35.7% of samples showed 'excellent' application for irrigation, whereas 64.3% samples were in the harmful' group (Table 2).Hence, the ground water falling under this must be used with caution for irrigation purposes.The study indicated Na + :Ca + and Mg+:Ca+ values less than the maximum value of 3, as shown in Table 3.Values for Na + :Ca + varied from 0.85 to 2.885, with an average of 1.565, and for Mg+:Ca+ values were 4.42 to 1.37, with an average of 0.79, as represented in Fig. 2b with a whisker plot.

Conclusion
Different available water quality indices and statistical methods were used to explore the groundwater's suitability for agricultural purposes in the Ichalkaranji area.The order of abundance of major ions in the samples was HCO3 -> Cl -> and for cations, it was Ca 2+ > Na 2+ > Mg 2+ > K + .As observed from WQI, all 100% of the samples belonged to the high-suitability water category for domestic and agricultural purposes.Results of the EC, Na%, and SAR index displayed that the majority of the ground water was in the good to acceptable' class for agricultural use, as was evident from the Whiskar plot, trilinear, and water classification charts.Interpretation of the samples based on MAR, KR, TH, and RSBC exhibited that more than 90% of groundwater samples were classified as 'safe' for agricultural use.An overall conclusion can be drawn that the decision-makers can safely suggest the use of groundwater for agriculture and domestic purposes to maintain the existing fertility and increase crop yield.

Table 1 : Recorded concentrations of parameters for the collected samples in the study area.
1. pH values varied from 7.2 to 7.5, with an average value of 7.4, indicating a normal range of values.Values higher than the permissible value of 8.5 indicate carbonate content in the bedrock.

Table 2 :
Calculated values of different indices.

Table 2 : Classification of Ground water quality
Electrical Conductivity and sodium content are the prime factors for IWQ classification.The growth of plants is restricted by the excess concentration of sodium and high values of EC as the soil becomes hard.It also affects the structure, texture, and permeability of the soil