Assessment of the tube-well water quality: A micro-level case study from Lower Gangetic Plain (LGP) in North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India

The purpose of this study is to investigate the quality of tubewell water (TW) in Barasat-I (Community Development Block) under North 24 Parganas District of Lower Gangetic Plain (LGP), West Bengal, India with respect to suitability for drinking purpose. This is the first micro-level ground water related study in this region. In total twenty (20) groundwater (GW) samples from tube-wells at different locations of nine (09) Gram Panchayats (GP) were collected and analyzed. The results have been compared with the Indian standard (IS) for drinking water based on eight parameters, such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solid (TSS), conductivity, total alkalinity (TA), total hardness (TH), chloride (Cl), and arsenic (As). Moreover, TDS (50%) and Total Hardness (TH) (90%) were found to be above the desirable limit. However, pH, Chloride, has been found to be within the permissible limit. This micro-level study revealed that high contamination with arsenic of GW has been identified on the middle to eastern side of Barasat-I. As is found to be above acceptable limit at 70% sampling points. Therefore, rural people of the eastern side of the Barasat-I are prone to a higher risk of black-foot disease due to higher level of As. Overall, the groundwater in this block is not suitable and fit for direct drinking. It needs treatment to minimize pollution or contamination, where regular monitoring and analysis is recommended to determine the extent of contamination in the other parts of LGP. The findings of this study will be beneficial to manage and control ground water vulnerability in micro-level for water scientists, policy makers, and researchers as well in sustainable way and must be achieved by 2030.