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. 2025 Mar 13;15(1):8769.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-92053-1.

Sustainable groundwater management through water quality index and geochemical insights in Valsad India

Keval H Jodhani  1 , Nitesh Gupta  2 , Sanidhya Dadia  1 , Harsh Patel  3 , Dhruvesh Patel  4 , Punyawi Jamjareegulgarn  5 , Sudhir Kumar Singh  6 , Upaka Rathnayake  7
Affiliations

Sustainable groundwater management through water quality index and geochemical insights in Valsad India

Keval H Jodhani et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Groundwater quality assessment is crucial for sustainable water resource management and public health protection. This study evaluated the Water Quality Index (WQI) of groundwater in the southern part of Gujarat focusing on the Valsad District. Groundwater in this region occurs in porous, unconsolidated formations and fracture formations, both under groundwater table conditions and confined aquifers. Various parameters including Nitrate (NO3¯), pH, Calcium (Ca2+), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Hardness (TH), Magnesium (Mg2+), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Potassium (K+), Sodium (Na+), Sulphate (SO42-), Chloride (Cl¯), Bicarbonate (HCO3¯), Silicate (SiO44-), and Fluoride (F¯) were analyzed to assess groundwater quality. Results indicate that most of the parameters fell within acceptable permissible limits for drinking water, except for Muli and Nanaponda villages with the parameters Cl¯, EC, and TDS exceeding the permissible limit. The WQI analysis revealed that 31.25% of water samples from different villages were found in the excellent category (WQI < 25). About 68.75% of samples from 16 villages were classified as good quality category (WQI ∼ 25-50). Overall, the WQI ranged from 14.20 to 41.98, suggesting that groundwater in the Valsad district is suitable for drinking. The Piper diagram analysis of water samples collected from the field indicated unique geochemical compositions and good water. The diagram revealed that the Ca2+ was the predominant cation, followed by K+, Na+, and Mg2+. Among the anions, the HCO3- showed the highest concentrations, followed by SO42-, NO3-, and Cl-. This dominance pattern demonstrated that the weathering of minerals significantly influenced the groundwater. This study recommends remediation for areas with reduced water quality to address geogenic and anthropogenic contamination.

Keywords: Drinking suitability; GIS; Potentially toxic elements; Valsad; WQI.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The authors followed the ethical guidelines and no ethical approval was required and all the authors agreed to participate. Consent for publication: All authors are agreeing to publish the content.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sampling Point location in Valsad District, located in southern Gujarat of India,
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Workflow adopted for groundwater quality assessment.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Spatial Distribution maps of (a) Bicarbonate concentration, (b) Chloride concentration, (c) Nitrate concentration, (d) Calcium concentration, (e) Electrical Conductivity and (f) Fluoride concentration.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Spatial Distribution map of (a) Magnesium concentration, (b) Sodium concentration, (c) pH Value, (d) Potassium concentration.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Spatial Distribution map of (a) Silicon Dioxide concentration, (b) Total dissolved solids, (c) Sulphate concentration, (d) Total Hardness.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
WQI results of groundwater from all studied 16 villages in Valsad district.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Classification of groundwater water quality based on Piper diagram.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Stabler diagram for presenting major ionic dominance in the groundwater samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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