Assessment of Water Quality Indices for Irrigation of Dharta Watershed, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 4 Issue 3, April 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD30429 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 3 | March-April 2020 Page 340
Assessment of Water Quality Indices for Irrigation
of Dharta Watershed, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Katara P.1, Mittal H. K.2, Maheshwari B. L.3, Singh P. K.4, Dashora Y.5
1Research Scholar, 2, 3, 4Professor, 5SRF
1,2, 4, 5Department of Soil and Water Conservation, CTAE College, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
3Water, Environment & Sustainability Western Sydney University
School Of Science & Health, Hawkesbury Campus, Richmond, Australia
ABSTRACT
Validate the suitability of water for agriculture on the basis of the quality
indices is the key objective of this study. The qualityofwaterwasevaluated by
analyzing parameters such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, alkalinity and
bicarbonates. The quality indices were evaluated and ranged as Sodium
Absorption Ratio 0.54 to 5.80 ppm, Soluble Sodium percentage 10.47to59.17
ppm, Residual Sodium Carbonate -26.25 to 1.24 ppm, Permeability Index
25.16 to 79.78 and Kelly’s Ratio 0.12 to 1.45 ppm. The outcomes were
compared to the WHO and BIS standards. According to salinity hazard in
which based on EC, 18.33% samples are unsuitable for irrigation, while
26.67% samples are utilize by suitable water treatment, On the basis of TDS
5% of water samples are belongs to moderately saline category which is
reduce by some irrigation practices.Ontheotherside basedonSodiumhazard
all the samples are found within the range of excellent category, which means
water is suitable for irrigation purpose. The calculated indices were fit in
agreement by means of WHO & BIS. The documentation contains information
about the impact of the irrigation water quality on the agriculture.
KEYWORDS: Water quality indices, SAR, SSP, RSC, KR, irrigation, Dharta
watershed
How to cite this paper: Katara P. | Mittal
H. K. | Maheshwari B. L. | Singh P. K. |
Dashora Y. "Assessment of Water Quality
Indices for Irrigation of Dharta
Watershed, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India"
Published in
International Journal
of Trend in Scientific
Research and
Development
(ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-
6470, Volume-4 |
Issue-3, April 2020,
pp.340-344, URL:
www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd30429.pdf
Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and
International Journal ofTrendinScientific
Research and Development Journal. This
is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of
the Creative
CommonsAttribution
License (CC BY 4.0)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by
/4.0)
1. INTRODUCTION
The irrigation of farming produce with water of poor quality
reduces the yield. A method for reviewing the
appropriateness of the accessible water for irrigation of the
diverse crops, taking in concern the consequences of the
substance investigation is required to avoid emerging
troubles at use deficient class water (FAO). On the base of
analysis the system issues recommendations how to use the
water for agriculture, soil, on the basis of in order on
cultivated crops and agro-climatic characteristicsofthearea.
The purposes of the study are protection of crops, water
resources; soil resource, andconsumers,sustainablefarming
improvement etc. is a requirement for the agriculture
production, which reduces the health hazards for the
consumers.
Agriculture is the largest part of economic movement
represents the foremost source of food and earning. The
water is the key resource for irrigation inIndia.Forirrigation
water quality also depends on the environment, soil
characteristics, the water table depth, sub-soil condition
climate, topography, etc(Dasetal2018).Thequalityofwater
replicates contributions from the soil, atmosphere, water-
rock conditions and contaminant sources. It required for
irrigation depends up on the dissolved salts like Ca,Mg,Na,&
HCO3 in water (Patil & Patil, 2010). Studied said that the
absorption of these salts and their ratio to one another are
influence the quality of water for irrigation, (USEPA; 1974).
However, such water influences crops yield.
With high salt substance can bring about displacement of
cations like Ca and Mg from the clay minerals of the soil in
irrigation water , followed by replacement of cation by
sodium, (Pondhe; 1992). The key elements affecting the
quality of irrigation water are Na, Mg, Ca, and alkalinity of
water (USEPA; 1974). The increased concentration of these
elements on irrigation water changes the soil quality and
makes it unsuitable for cultivation of crop. But there is no
literature for Dharta Watershed. Hence present assessment
was undertaken to assess the suitability of water for
irrigation.
2. Study Area
Dharta watershed of the Bhinder block (an administrative
district) of Vallabhnagar Tehsil has been selected as a study
area due to existing engagement of project partners
(Maheshwari et al., 2014) and willingness of local
community to participate and proximity to organizations to
provide scientific and technical support. The watershed is
IJTSRD30429

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
situated at an altitude 470m above sea level at a latitude of
24º 37ˈ to 24º 39ˈ N, and longitude 74º 09ˈ to 74º 15ˈ E. It is
about 5 km from its block head quarter and 65kmeastof the
city of Udaipur within the Udaipur District of Rajasthan(Fig.
1).
Fig. 1 Study Area of Dharta Watershed
3. MATERIALS AND METHODS
CollectionofSamples:Samplesofwaterwerecollectedfrom
the selected twenty wells of Dharta Watershed. A plastic
bottle [100 ml] rinsed with pechloric acid & distilled water
were used for the sample collection and brought to
laboratory. The water samples were collected for the period
of three year during 2013 to 2015.
Examination of Water Samples: The Major elements
[Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sodium (Na), Potassium(K)
& Cationic] were determined according to the standard
methods (table 1), (APHA; 1998) in the laboratory. The
results of yearly analysis were presented in table 2.
Water quality indices analysis: The evaluation of water
quality fitness for irrigation was carried with the help of
indices like Sodium Absorption Ratio, Soluble Sodium
Percentage, Residual Sodium Carbonate,(USEPA;1974),and
Kelly’s Index,(Kelly; 1940) showing in table 3.
Table:1 Different method used to determine various
parameters:
Quality
Parameters
Symbol Formulaadopted Reference/source
Total dissolved
solids
TDS
TDS=640×EC(forEC<5dS/m)
Dinka(2010)a
TDS=800×EC(forEC>5dS/m)
Sodiumadsorption
ratio
SAR USSL(1954)a
Residualsodium
Carbonate
RSC RSC=(CO3
-
+HCO3
-
)- (Ca+Mg) Doneen(1964)b
Kelly’sRatio KR Kelly(1940)
SodiumSoluble
percentage
SSP Wilcox(1958)
Permeabilityindex PI Doneen(1964)b
Sodiumpercentage %Na
Khodapanahetal.
(2009)
Magnesiumratio MR Paliwal (1972)
2
MgCa
Na
SAR
+
=
MgCa
Na
KR
+
=
NaMgCa
Na
SSP
++
×
=
100
100
)( 3
×





++
+
=
NaMgCa
HCONa
PI
100% ×





+++
=
KNaMgCa
Na
Na
MgCa
Mg
MR
+
×
=
100
Source: a Sarkar and Hassan (2006); b Reddy and Kumar
(2010).
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The water from the study area is widely used for irrigation
from all sites. Due to the importance of farming the
evaluation of water quality indices are carried out that the
water is suitable for irrigation or not. The condition of water
for irrigation reflects on indices.
It is seen from table 2 that the collected water components
are extremely erratic in respect to cationic & anionic
components. The components such as Na, Mg, and Ca ranged
from 1.24 to 17.21, 2.2 to 18.4 and 0.6 to 10.2 ppm
respectively. The anionic component’s like CaCO3 ranged
from 1.8 to 31.0. These components are used for the quality
indices.
Table2: Showing physico-chemical parameters of
Dharta Watershed

Table3. Water quality indices for irrigation:
Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR): TheSARofwatersamples
was varying from 0.54 to 5.55, 0.96 to 5.28, and 0.97 to 5.80
for year 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively with an overall
average value of 2.78 for all the samples analyzed in
successive three years. The water having SAR<10 is good for
irrigation (WHO & BIS, 2012). It was observed that all the
sites studied were good for irrigation, (table 4). Sodium
adsorption was stimulated while Na percentage increases as
compared to Ca & Mg resulting in soil dispersion(Emersonet
al 1973, FAO 1992).
Table: 4 Classification of groundwater samples based
on SAR
Water Class SAR No. of Samples
Excellent <10 60
Good 10-18 -
Doubtful 18-26 -
Unsuitable >26 -
The SAR was also expressed as Sodium Hazard, (WHO & BIS
2012). In SAR the Ca and Mg ions are important becausethey
tend to resist the effects of sodium. Continual use of water
having high SAR leads to go down in the physical structure of
the soil particles. Sodium would absorb & becomes attached
to the soil particles. The soil then turns into hard & compact
when dry and gradually more impermeable to water
dispersion. The degree to which irrigation water tends to
enter in to cations exchange reaction in soil can be indicated
by the sodium absorption ratio. Sodium replacing adsorbed
calcium & magnesium is a hazard as it causes damage to the
soil structure, (Nishanthiny et al; 2010). Classification of
groundwater samples as per WHO & BIS agricultural norms
reveals that all the samples ofstudyareaarefoundwithinthe
range of excellent category, which means to be suitable for
irrigation purpose.
Percent Sodium (% Na): Calculated values of percentage
sodium (%Na) were ranged from 10.46to56.20withoverall
average of 35.80 for all the samples analyzed in year 2013.
For year 2014 values of percent sodium ranged from 12.06
to 55.92 with an average value of 34.99 and 16.45 to 58.99
for year 2015. The minimum value was found in sample SP-
47 during 2013 (Table 3). Use ofwaterhaving excesssodium
percentage is not suitable for irrigational purpose. Data
reveals that all samples were range from excellent to
permissible category.
Table 5: Classification of water class based on % Na
Water Class
Sodium
(Na) %
No. of
sample
% of
Sample
Excellent <20 10 16.67
Good 20-40 23 38.33
Medium 40-60 27 45
Bad 60-80 - -
Very bad >80 - -
Kelly’s Ratio: The concentration of Na, Ca & Mg in water is
representing the alkali hazard. The values of KI < 1 indicate
suitable for irrigation & > 1 indicate unsuitability, (Kelly;
1940). The values of KR in the study varied from 0.12 to
1.45. Therefore, according to KI,80percentofwatersamples
were suitable for irrigation, while 20 percent sample were
unsuitable for irrigation purpose (Table 3).
Residual Sodium Carbonate: When the excess carbonate
[residual] concentration becomes too high, the carbonates
combine with calcium & magnesium to form a solid material
[scale] which settles out of the water,(USDA; 1954). The
sodium with alkaline & the quantity of bicarbonate and
carbonate in accessed of alkaline also affect the fitness of
water for irrigation. This excess is denoted by residual
sodium carbonate [RSC]. Accordingly Eaton, 1950 the water
with high RSC has high pH and land irrigated by such waters
becomes infertile owingtodepositionofsodiumcarbonateas
known from the black color of the soil. Further, continued
usage of high RSC waters affects crop yields, (USDA; 1954).
Table 6: RSC Classification of water quality
RSC
(me l-1 )
Water quality
< 1.25 Water can be used safely
1.25 - 2.5
Water can be used with certain
management
> 2.5 Unsuitable for irrigation purposes

In the study, the RSC value was in the range of minimum -
26.25 meq/l to maximum 1.24 meq/l for successive three
years. Values of RSC for the cropland in 2013, 2014 and2015
indicate that 100 % of the water is suitable for irrigation.
Additional the value of RSC is negative at all sampling sites,
indicating that there is no complete precipitation of calcium
and magnesium (Pondhe, 1992).
Soluble Sodium Percentage: The minimum SSP value was
observed is 10.47 meq/l, while maximum value was
recorded 56.48 meq/l. The maximum value was of well D-
34(Table 3). The SSP value at site12onlyshowsthedoubtful
quality of water for drinking purpose while all sites are
within the permissible level for irrigation (USEPA, 1974).
Permeability Index (PI): The permeability index proposed
by Doneen (1964) indicates susceptibility of soil to
permeability loss with respect to water quality, taking into
account dissolved ions that can easilyprecipitate(expressed
in percentage). Soil permeability is affected by a long-term
use of irrigation water, depending on soil type and qualityof
the water used for irrigation. This index is calculated based
on Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and bicarbonate content of water. Values
of PI for the cropland and watershed area are injurious for
66.67% of the samples (Table 7), in other words, water
should not be used without any irrigation practice
management according to this index, while33.33%samples
having a value of PI is good for irrigation purpose.
Table 7: Permeability Index range for water sample:
Parameter Range Class
No. of
sample
% of
Sample
Permeabilit
y Index
(PI), %
<20 Excellent 0 0
20-40 Good 20 33.33
40-80 Injurious 40 66.67
>80
Unsatisfac
tory
0 0
Conclusion:
The water qualityindicesstudiedshowedthatthewaterfrom
Dharta Watershed is suitable for irrigation. Some of water
samples are used by proper irrigation practices. The indices
like KI, RSC, SSP, SAR and PI are within the permissible limits
for irrigation, (BIS 2012, WHO & USEPA; 1974). For making
water policy the time to time monitoring of water quality is
necessary to help out farmers & irrigation department. Also
water pollution should be monitoring frequently which help
proper management & sustainable development.
Graph 1a to 1d: Graphical representation of value of SAR in
meq/L for Hinta, Dharta, Badgoan and Sundarpura Village
for year 2013, 2014 & 2015 respectively.
(1a)
(1b)
(1c)
(1d)
Graph 2a to 2d: Graphical representation of value of %Na
for Hinta, Dharta, Badgoan and Sundarpura Village for year
2013, 2014 & 2015 respectively.
(2a)
(2b)

(2c)
(2d)
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. B. L. Maheshwari, Professor Western Sydney
University School of Science & Health, Hawkesbury Campus
Water, Environment & Sustainability for MARVI project and
making data accessible for use in this study. ACIAR and
MARVI project team is gratefully acknowledged.
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Assessment of Water Quality Indices for Irrigation of Dharta Watershed, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

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