Assessment of groundwater quality and suitability for drinking and irrigation using multivariate statistical analyses and GIS in Jhenaidah District, Bangladesh

This study explored the groundwater chemistry, groundwater suitability, and potential human health risks in the Jhenaidah district, Bangladesh. A total of 54 groundwater samples were collected from the study area, and a set of multivariate approaches were applied to achieve the study objectives. Study results show the concentration of HCO3−, Ca2+, As, Fe, and Mn exceeded Bangladesh drinking quality guidelines in 100, 98, 44, 28, and 63% samples, respectively. The groundwater quality index shows only 15% of samples are suitable for drinking purposes, whereas various irrigation water indices like EC, TH, %Na, SAR, PI, and MH show that these sources of water are suitable for irrigation. In the study area, groundwater is mainly Ca2+–Mg2+–HCO3− types, and rock–water interactions are dominating the mineralization process. The sequential order of major cations and major anions are Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+, and Cl− > HCO3− > SO42−, respectively. Multivariate analyses show that both geogenic and manmade sources regulate the groundwater quality. Arc-GIS inverse weighted method has been utilized to spatial interpolate the basic parameters. For the human health aspect, both adults and children have high carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks.