ASSESSMENT OF IRRIGATION CANAL WATER QUALITY OF NEW MUTHA RIGHT BANK CANAL, PUNE (MAHARASHTRA, INDIA) USING HYDROGEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS

Water is the most important input required for agricultural development and since all water sources used in irrigation contain impurities and dissolved salts, irrespective of whether they are surface or groundwater, precautions are warranted to follow proper irrigation practices in the agriculture. In the present study the water samples from the New Mutha Right Bank Canal in the Pune district have been assessed for their suitability for the agricultural use. For this the water samples from the canal and the wells meant for drinking and irrigation purposes, adjacent to the canal were analyzed for their chemical constituents and various parameters were calculated. The values of total dissolved solids (TDS) and Electrical Conductivity (EC) clearly indicate that the canal water is excellent to good without any salinity hazard while the waters from drinking and irrigation wells are good to acceptable. From the values of Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) and %Na the canal water is found to be excellent while the waters from drinking and irrigation wells are excellent to good. The values of Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) and Residual Sodium Bicarbonate (RSBC) suggest that all the three types of waters are safe without any hazard. From the Permeability Index (PI) and Potential Salinity (PS) values the canal water is found to be safe without any permeability hazard while waters from the drinking wells and irrigation wells are somewhat unsuitable because of their potential permeability hazard. Thus the canal waters do not indicate much anthropogenic inputs either from the domestic, industrial or agricultural activities and hence they are found to be excellent for the agricultural use. Little higher values of some parameters for the waters from drinking water wells and agricultural wells could be due to contamination of groundwater because of excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, although they are also not unsafe and they do not pose threat for the agriculture practices.