Analysis of Soil and Water Quality in Selected Villages of Ranipet District, Tamil Nadu, India

Quality of soil and water are determined by measuring the concentration of their parameters and comparing them with standards. In the present study, soil samples (top, sub and inner) from three zones, zone 1 (industrial area), zone 2 (10km from industrial area) and zone 3 (agricultural land/fields) of Puliyanthangal village, and the bore well, well and pond water samples of Kathiyavadi village were analysed from January 2019 to December 2019. Soil texture was sandy loam in all the zones. The pooled values for pH, electrical conductivity (dS/m), organic carbon (%), available nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper (mg/Kg) tested in zone 1, 2 and 3 were 7.9, 6.8 and 6.8; 0.3, 0.3 and 0.1; 0.09, 0.5 and 0.5; 11.7, 96.0 and 137.8; 4.5, 4.5 and 4.2; 88.3, 111.3 and 206.7; 3.6, 3.4 and 3.7; 2.1, 1.7 and 2.3; 0.4, 0.3 and 0.2; and 0.7, 0.5 and 0.7, respectively. The bore well and well water samples were clear and colourless without odour, whereas the pond water was slightly yellowish in appearance and colour, and without odour in all the three zones. The physicochemical parameters viz., water temperature, electrical conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, total alkalinity and total hardness for bore well, well and pond water were 27.9, 22.8 and 33.0°C; 975, 1532 and 737μS/cm; 0, 1 and 11NTU; 683, 1072 and 516mg/L; 7.4, 7.8 and 7.3; 276, 344 and 248mg/L; and 190, 732 and 272mg/L, respectively. Calcium, magnesium, free ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, chloride, fluoride, sulphate and phosphate represented the nutrient parameters and their respective values (mg/L) were 41, 174 and 58; 21, 71 and 30; 0, 0 and 1.1; 24, 29 and 22; 0, 0 and 0.8; 100, 184 and 60; 0.4, 0.4 and 0.4; 77, 120 and 49; 0, 0 and 0.8. The values of metal parameters reported nil except for iron (0.2mg/L) in pond water. The study inferred that the waning nature of soil and water might be due to location of industrial units.