Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

  • Chief EditorV. Geethalakshmi

  • Print ISSN 0367-8245

  • Online ISSN 0976-058X

  • NAAS Rating 5.60

  • SJR 0.293

Frequency :
Bi-monthly (February, April, June, August, October and December)
Indexing Services :
BIOSIS Preview, ISI Citation Index, Biological Abstracts, Elsevier (Scopus and Embase), AGRICOLA, Google Scholar, CrossRef, CAB Abstracting Journals, Chemical Abstracts, Indian Science Abstracts, EBSCO Indexing Services, Index Copernicus
Indian Journal of Agricultural Research, volume 47 issue 1 (february 2013) : 43-50

HYDROGEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND CONTAMINATION OF NITRATE AND FLUORIDE IN GROUNDWATER OF SOUTH-WEST REGION OF DELHI STATE, INDIA

D.S. Gurjar*, B.R. Yadav, V.K. Sharma
1Water Technology Centre, Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012,India
  • Submitted|

  • First Online |

  • doi

Cite article:- Gurjar* D.S., Yadav B.R., Sharma V.K. (2024). HYDROGEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND CONTAMINATION OF NITRATE AND FLUORIDE IN GROUNDWATER OF SOUTH-WEST REGION OF DELHI STATE, INDIA. Indian Journal of Agricultural Research. 47(1): 43-50. doi: .
A study was carried out to assess the nitrate and fluoride contamination and hydrogeochemical characterization of groundwater in south-west region of Delhi State during the year 2007-08. The study area was selected as Najafgarh Sub Division of South West District of Delhi State, India.  The groundwater samples were collected from the same tube wells of randomly selected 20 villages in Najafgarh Sub Division during both pre and post-monsoon seasons (May and October, 2007). Results indicated that quality of groundwater samples in terms of total soluble salts (ECiw) was in the range of 1.28-11.40 and 1.16-8.19dS m-1 in pre and post monsoon seasons, respectively. Based on the relative dominance of different cations and anions, the groundwater was classified as Na-Mg-Ca and Cl-HCO3-SO4 type. Nitrate-nitrogen in groundwater samples during pre and post-monsoon season ranged from 2.50 to 45.20 mg L-1 and 2.30 to 42.40 mg L-1 with mean value of 9.24 and 8.90 mg L-1 and fluoride concentration ranged from 0.14 to 3.28 mg L-1 and 0.12 to 3.25 mg L-1 with mean values of 1.21 and 1.20 mg L-1, respectively. Nitrate- nitrogen concentration of groundwater was found higher than permissible limit (10 mg L-1) in the villages of Mitraon, Ghumanheda, Dhansa, Hasanpur and Daulatpur of Najafgarh Sub Division. Fluoride concentration more than permissible limit (1.5 mg L-1) was observed in Surheda, Kharkhari Round, Ghumanheda, Daryapur, Chhawala and Uzwa villages of the Najafgarh block. The higher concentrations of salinity, sodicity, nitrate and fluoride in groundwater having adverse effect on plant growth and also causes the serious health problems to human beings. The higher concentrations of salinity and sodicity reduces the yield of the crops and the concentration of nitrate-N more than 10 mg L-1 and fluoride more than 1.5 mg L-1 in groundwater causes the Methemoglobinemia or Blue Baby Syndrome and Fluorosis diseases in human as well as in animals, respectively.
  1. American Public Health Association (1992). Standard methods for examination of water and waste water, 18th edition, American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.
  2. Aulakh, M.S. and Bijay Singh (1997). Nitrogen losses and fertilizer N use efficiency in irrigated porous soil. Nutrient Cycling Agroecosysem 7: 1-16.
  3. Bajwa, M.S., Bijay Singh and Parminder Singh (1993). Nitrate pollution of groundwater under different systems of land management in the Punjab. In: First Agricultural Science Congress, 1992, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, 223-230.
  4. Central Ground Water Board. (2004). Development and augmentation of groundwater resources in National Capital Territory of Delhi, Government of India Report.
  5. Datta, P. S. and Tyagi, S.K. (1996). Major ion chemistry of groundwater in Delhi area: Chemical weathering processes and groundwater flow regime. J. Geological Society of India 47(2): 179-188.
  6. Datta, P. S., Bhattacharya, S.K. and Tyagi, S.K. (1996). 18O studies on recharge of phreatic aquifers and groundwater flow-path of mixing in Delhi area. J. Hydrology 176: 25-36.
  7. Datta, P. S., Deb, D.L. and Tyagi, S.K. (1997). Assessment of groundwater contamination from fertilizers in the Delhi area based on 18O, NO3- and K+ composition. J. Contaminant Hydrology 27(3-4): 249-262.
  8. Datta, P. S., Deb, D.L. and Tyagi, S.K. (1996a). Stable isotope (18O) investigation on the processes controlling fluoride contamination of groundwater. J. Contaminant Hydrology 24(1): 85-96.
  9. Delhi Statistical Hand Book. (2010). Delhi Statistical Hand Book (DSHB), Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
  10. Kumar, M., Ramanathan, A.L., Rao, M.S. and Kumar, B. (2006). Identification and Evaluation of Hydro-geochemical processes in the groundwater environment of Delhi, India. Environmental Geology 50(7): 1025-1039.
  11. Mahapatra, S.K., Rana, K.P.C., Singh, S.P., Velayutham and Sehgal, J. (2000). Soils of Delhi for optimising land use. NBSS Publ. 72. National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur. p. 70 + XVII + 1 Map (1: 1,25,000 scale).
  12. Paliwal, K.V. and Yadav, B.R. (1976). Irrigation water quality and crop management in the union territory of Delhi, Technical Bulletin No.9. Water Technology Centre, IARI, New Delhi. pp. 166.
  13. Satyanarayana, K.V.S., Chibbr, R.K. and Verma, H.K.G. (1967). Seasonal fluctuation in quality of some well waters and their influence on soils. Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science 15: 181-186.
  14. Singh, B. and Dass, J. (1993). Occurrence of high fluoride in groundwater of Haryana. Bhujal News 8(1): 28-31.
  15. Singh, B., Singh, Y. and Sekhon, G.S. (1995). Nitrate pollution in groundwater J. Contaminant Hydrology 20: 167-174.
  16. Singh, I., Bijay Singh, and Bal, H.S. (1987). Indiscriminate fertilizer use via-a-vis groundwater population in central Punjab. Indian J. Agric. Econo. 42: 404-409.
  17. World Health Organization. (1996). Guidelines for Drinking Water second edition, Vol. 1 and 2. World Health organization, Geneva.

Editorial Board

View all (0)