A STUDY OF AQUIFER SYSTEMS AND GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION DUE TO HEAVY METALS IN PARTS OF SAHIBABAD INDUSTRIAL AREA ALONG HINDON RIVER GHAZIABAD, U.P.

Abstract

Groundwater is the most easily available and exploited fresh water resource on earth. Requirement of water in various sectors are increasing with socio economic development. In order to fulfil this increasing demand, there is a necessity for sustainable management of surface and groundwater resources. It is important to distinguish aquifer systems so as to provide essential statistics to plan for its sustainability. In this study an attempt has been made to analyse the heavy metal concentration level of 16 bore and duck wells located at the different localities in and around Ghaziabad area. It is found that the study area is suffering from frequently water level declination and also severe heavy metal problems because the concentration of various heavy metals such as lead, chromium, zinc, iron etc. has been found above standard limit prescribed by BIS/WHO. This precious gift of nature to human being is getting polluted day by day with industrialization and urbanization. High amount of chemicals are used in industries and agricultural sectors which have resulted in huge build up of harmful organics in water (Asia Alshikh,2011) [1].The effluent comes from these industries has been discharged into water bodies without any proper treatment due to which toxic metals mix into groundwater through infiltration process. All these metals are highly toxic to human health and cannot be easily detected without any specialized or advanced treatment. Most affected area from heavy metals is slum areas near Hindon river and also the surrounded area of Sahibabad industrial site because the people of slum areas consume groundwater without any treatment. There are various methods to remove these hazardous metals from water such as filtration, pump and treat method, Bioremediation, Conventional treatment methods .Various biological treatment methods, both anaerobic and aerobic can be used for the detection of heavy metals.