Effect of Waste Water Flow on Ground Water Quality in Parts of Belagavi City

Belagavi is a two-tier city in Karnataka and is one of the fastgrowing cities of India. Belagavi city is also one of the cities selected under Smart city program of the government of India. However, to cop up with the escalating population, the infrastructure facility need to be addressed on priority basis. One of the most important issues which need immediate attention is with regard to liquid and solid waste disposal. Presently, the entire sewage water of the city is linked through gutters and sewer lines to a stream locally known as Bellary nala. The Bellary nala is a part of Deccan planes and lies between longitude 74o30’E and 74o40’E and latitude 15o45’N to 15o55’N in the Belagavi district of Karnataka State, India. The nala which was once a perennial stream carrying fresh water has now turned into a sewer drain due to the discharge of large quantities of effluent into the stream. It is observed that the discharged waste waters are derived from domestic wastes, small-scale industries and also from the improper dumping of sewage wastes. Further, it is noticed that the flow of wastewater is much beyond the self-purification capacity of the stream and is found to be responsible for polluting the adjoining catchment waters. This nala passes through a highly fertile black cotton soil, which is underlain, by very good aquifers. An Aquifer is an underground layer of water bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials (gravels, sand or silt). Groundwater can be extracted using water well. Farmers along this nala pump out this wastewater for irrigating sugarcane, paddy, vegetables etc., and it is reported that such utilization of wastewater for irrigation resulted in worsening the water quality conditions in the riparian belts. Therefore, to understand the extent of pollution on surface and groundwater quality, detailed hydrochemical analysis have been carried out by sampling groundwater samples from selected locations of Belagavi City.

Author(s): Mohamed Zameerulla, BK Purandara and AV Shivapur

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