Evaluation of Groundwater Quality for Irrigation during the PreMonsoon Period in the Selected Area of Thrissur District, Kerala

The irrigation quality of groundwater from a selected study area from Thrissur district, Kerala have been studied in pre monsoon season to evaluate its suitability in relation to agricultural uses. Groundwater samples were collected from fifty seven open wells and were analyzed for various physico-chemical attributes like temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, alkalinity, hardness, chloride, salinity, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and sulphates (SO42-). All these parameters satisfies their corresponding desirable limits. Various determinants such as Permeability Index (PI), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) revealed that all the samples are good for irrigation. Moreover that, suitability of water for irrigation was evaluated based on the Total Salt Concentration, Magnesium Ratio (MR), Kelleys Ratio (KR), Sodium Percent (Na %), Wilcox and USSL diagrams.