GROUNDWATER QUALITY IN BIRATNAGAR OF MORANG DIS-TRICT, NEPAL

A study was conducted to assess the groundwater quality in Biratnagar ofMorang district of Nepal on the basis of some important physicochemical andmicrobiological analysis. During the study, the elevated value of turbidityranged from 2.12.80 NTU (ward no. 8) to 81.4644.28 NTU (ward no.10), free-carbondioxide (FCO2) ranged from 122.45 mg /L (ward no. 21)to 17.23.03 mg/L (ward no. 8), arsenic ranged from nil (ward no. 3) to0.170.21 mg /L (ward no. 1), iron (Fe) ranged from 0.45 mg/L (ward no. 7)to 3.67 mg/L (ward no. 4), manganese (Mn), ranged from 0.45 mg/L (wardno. 7) to 5.99 mg/L (ward no. 16) and fecal coliform bacteria were foundpositive in 10 wards (ward nos. 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11,14,15,20 and 21) constituting45.45% of the total samples ranging from 3 to 25 MPN/100 ml . Out of thetotal analyzed samples, turbidity in 78 samples (70.90%), FCO2;Fe, and Mn inall samples (100%) and arsenic in 37 water samples (33.64 %) were crossedthe permissible limit of WHO guideline. However, the value of pH, EC, DO, TH,PO4-P, NO3N, Cd, Zn, and Pb were below the WHO guideline value. The statusof βluoride was below detectable level in all the analyzed groundwater samples.