Seasonal assessment of groundwater quality in terms of heavy metal contamination in Sukinda mining region of Jajpur District, Odisha

The present study deals with the assessment of heavy metal contamination of groundwater in and around Sukinda region, Odisha, which is rich in chromium, iron and nickel deposits.Mining and industrial effluents arising in this region is due to unrestrained mines, associated industries. Over burden and waste dumps are major factors for heavy metal contamination in groundwater. Ground water samples were collected from ten different locations in monsoon, post monsoon and pre monsoon seasons during the year 2015-2016 and the concentration of heavy metals such as Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, Co, Zn, Pb, Cr and Cd were analyzed. The average metal contamination load of the above three seasonal periods was in the order of monsoon>pre monsoon>post monsoon for Mn,Co,Cr and Cd whereas, Fe and Ni were in the order of pre-monsoon>monsoon>post-monsoon but forCu and Zn the order was pre-monsoon>post-monsoon>monsoon. Pb is the only metal which is in the order of monsoon>post-monsoon>pre-monsoon. The level of Fe,Cr,Ni,Pb and Mn in most of the ground water resources were beyond the standard limits of BIS andWHO indicating their unsuitability for drinking purpose. There was existence of positive and strong correlation between the metals Zn-Cu,Cu-Co,Cu-Zn,Cu-Cr,Co-Cr,Pb-Cr and Ni-Cr. Clustering of Zn,Co,Cr,Ni in one group; Cu,Cd,Pb,Fe and Mn in another group indicates that the metals under a same cluster group are having common geochemical source and anthropogenic input.