Evaluation of drinking and irrigation suitability of groundwater with special emphasizing the health risk posed by nitrate contamination using nitrate pollution index (NPI) and human health risk assessment (HHRA)

Groundwater is widely recognized as an essential source of water for drinking and irrigation uses in the South India. It is essential to evaluate the characterization of groundwater for drinking and irrigation uses. A total of 67 samples were collected in different locations of study area from tube wells for physio-chemical analysis. Water quality index (WQI), nitrate pollution index (NPI), human health risk assessment (HHRA), and irrigation water quality index (IWQI) efficient tools have been used to evaluate the quality of groundwater in the present study. The Piper and Gibbs diagram revealed that weathering of parent rocks, evaporation, rock water interaction, and ion exchange process are influencing the nature of groundwater. The result of WQI showed that, 20.89% and 7.46% of the sample locations are moderate and poor quality of water for drinking purpose. In order to evaluate the nitrate contamination, NPI divulged that seven sample locations are significant very significant type of pollution. Based on HHRA, the children are at high risk compared to male and female in the study region. The higher percentage of the sample locations are suitable for irrigation uses. The study helps to identify the contaminated zones and also to follow emerging remedial measures to control the source of contamination in the region.