Hydrogeochemical characteristics of groundwater in the musi river basin during monsoon

Abstract

Groundwater samples were collected from a strategic monitoring grid to measure the levels of nine distinct dominant ionic species. The resulting data revealed a clear, continuous decline in overall water safety from one year to the next, demonstrating that the natural dilution typically expected from seasonal rains was heavily compromised. When these hydrogeochemical datasets were evaluated against the health-based drinking water safety thresholds established by the World Health Organization (WHO), the comparative analysis exposed a significant, escalating pollution load. This worsening contamination was directly linked to a substantial increase in hazardous chemical matter within the sub-surface water matrix. The primary driver of this environmental degradation was identified as rapidly increasing human interference, unmanaged urban development, and unregulated industrial wastewater dumping across the river basin. As human activities accelerated throughout the surrounding area, they introduced a large volume of artificial pollutants into the local water system. During the monsoon period, this problem was severely compounded as heavy rainfall washed these accumulated surface contaminants and agricultural chemicals directly down into the shallow, unconfined water table. The continuous expansion of the regional pollution index over the two-year study period provides undeniable evidence of this trend. Ultimately, these findings underscore an urgent need to transition away from unmonitored resource use toward strict watershed protection policies and real-time water safety monitoring to safeguard the remaining drinking water supplies.