Heavy metal index and geographical information system (GIS) approach to study heavy metal contamination: a case study of north Chennai groundwater

Abstract

Abstract Fifty-four groundwater samples were collected from the highly industrialized area of north Chennai. These groundwater samples were tested for Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn and Cr in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods of 2015–2016. Most of the samples in the area were found to have high concentration of heavy metals. Geographical information system was used to develop contour maps for the analysis of heavy metals, and it has been found that most of the Ambattur area was affected by the heavy metals in both the seasons. ANOVA tests were carried out on the hydro-chemical data for both the monsoon periods, and it was found that there was a common source of origin for most of the heavy metals, which was also confirmed by the correlation and principal component analysis. T-test indicates that there was a common source of origin of heavy metals in the study area, viz. industrial and domestic pollutants, that were found to be the main source of heavy metals in both the monsoon periods. Principal component analysis gave three important factors (principal components) for both the seasons. Pre-monsoon groundwater samples showed a common cause of origin of heavy metals than the post-monsoon samples. Heavy metal pollution index indicates that almost all the samples were not fit for drinking purpose in both the monsoon periods and metal index also indicates the non-usability of the water for drinking purpose.

Keywords

• Groundwater
• Heavy metal index
• GIS
• Multivariate statistical analysis