Abstract

Water quality is a highly concerning issue as long as irrigation is planned to be used for crop production. Hence, groundwater at Bochessa catchment was assessed to determine the spatiotemporal variability of its quality and to evaluate its suitability for irrigation. For this study, 8 boreholes were selected and sampling was done during the dry and wet seasons between 2015 and 2017. Totally 48 water samples were collected from monitoring boreholes for laboratory analysis. Water samples were analyzed for 13 parameters including major cations and anions. The general linear model of two ways analysis of variance was used to determine the variability of parameters across the seasons and locations. The results revealed that about 46.0 and 16% of the parameters showed significant variation at P<0.05 across seasons and locations, respectively. This suggests temporal variation has a noticeable effect on the quality of groundwater. Almost all quality parameters showed a declining trend during the wet season. This also confirmed that how temporal variation influences groundwater quality in the area. SAR values in all locations were found within the limit and the water is suitable for irrigation. However, its values showed an increasing trend over time suggesting sodicity may challenge irrigation practices. Therefore, management practices such as; irrigation-fallowing, leaching, and choice of crops may help the farmers to maintain soil productivity. 

Key words: Agriculture, groundwater, permissible limit, quality parameters, suitability.