Origin of Salinity in Groundwater in Haryana

Groundwater forms one of the primary resources for developmental activity. Several interrelated processes control the chemical composition of the water and it is essential to understand these processes in order to arrive at the genesis of waters and suggest remedial measures. Groundwater has been classified and correlated on the basis of distribution at cations and anions. The major part of water is meteoric but other types including marine and from evaporitic sequences and stagnant waters have been inferred. The index of base exchange is negative for meteoric water is while it is positive for other types. Factor analysis has been used to determine the influence of causal factors that are responsible for variation. These variations have helped in identifying mutual relationship of various elements viz F Ca Na, SiO₂ NO₃ and PO₄. Occurrence of saline zones has been defined on the basis of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Electrical Conductance (EC). Use of gypsum has been suggested for removal of salinity. It is inferred that salinity has increased because of passage of water through evaporitic deposits occuring in depth in sediments and bedrock. Flushing the salts from affected land is not possible because of inland basinal conditions and absence of effective drainage. It is therefore, suggested to mine these salts as a crop. Suitable ion exchange techniques should be developed for extraction of salts from the saline water.