Deciphering groundwater quality, mechanisms controlling groundwater chemistry in and around Suryapet, Telangana, South India K. Saikrishna a , D. Purushotham b , V. Sunitha c,⇑ , Y. Sudharshan Reddy d , T. Brahmaiah e , B. Muralidhara Reddy f , B. Nallusamy g a Department of Geology, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Telangana 506009, India b CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana 500007, India c Department of Geology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa 516005, India d Department of Civil Engineering, Sai Rajeswari Insttitue of Technology, Proddatur, Kadapa, AP 516362, India e Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited, Nagpur, Maharashtra 440006, India f Department of Earth Science, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh 516005, India g Department of Geology, Central University of Karnataka, Karnataka 585367, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Groundwater chemistry Geochemical mechanism Suryapet Telangana ABSTRACT The main objective of the present paper is to determine the groundwater quality in and around Suryapet dis- trict, Telangana, and also to define groundwater chemistry mechanisms. For this, groundwater samples from thirty locations were analyzed for physicochemical parameters such as pH, EC, TDS, TH, major cations, and anions. Most of the samples were beyond the World Health Organization (WHO, 2011) maximum permitted levels for drinking. Groundwater is alkaline in nature, very hard. The abundance of the cations and anions is Ca 2+ >Na + >Mg + >K + ; Cl - >HCO 3 - > CO 3 2- >SO 4 2- >NO 3 - >F - respectively. The major ion distribution is regulated by cation exchange and silicate weathering processes; Gibbs plots show that the evolution of groundwater geochemistry depends on the interaction of water–rock followed by the evapotranspiration mech- anism. Cation‐anion exchange and base‐exchange reactions play a dominant role. Depending on the factor anal- ysis results, four factors are contributing to 74 percent of groundwater contamination and spatial variation maps decipher nonionic and ionic concentration due to geogenic and anthropogenic activities. This study sug- gests that contaminated groundwater should be treated before being consumed by humans. Introduction In India owing to paucity of surface waters, majority of people depend on groundwater for several purposes like drinking and domes- tic, industrial, and irrigation. Therefore supply of safe drinking water is very essential for human development (World Health Organization (WHO), 2011). Groundwater is the supreme natural resource and pre- cious national asset; it has attained an important position in overall water resource. However due to rapid urbanization and industrializa- tion, expanding population, emerging trends in technology, depletion of groundwater resources causes environmental pollution and health effects. Due to lack of proper waste management strategies, several anthropogenic activities and their by‐products have produced pollu- tion of surface and subsurface water. Effluents from industries, agricul- ture, horticulture transport all ultimately exert influence on water quality. Hence quality of drinking water is very crucial in various health issues. These problems vary widely and rely on geology, hydro- geology, climate and geochemical mechanisms. Quality and quantity of recharged water, geologic structure, aquifer mineralogy are the sig- nificant components that contribute chemical quality of groundwater (Yousefi et al., 2018). The hydrochemical study reveals Groundwater quality relies on lithological, pedogeochemical compositions, human activities and several geochemical compositions of the rocks (Adimalla and Taloor, 2020). Lithology, geochemistry can alter ground water hydro chemical features further through subsurface movement groundwater chemistry can also be altered through different anthro- pogenic sources like waste disposal practices, hygienic conditions (Brindha and Elango, 2015; Sunitha and Reddy, 2019; Sunitha et al., 2022; Sudharshan Reddy et al., 2020a). Understanding groundwater quality and its mechanism is very essential for effective management and sustainable resource for various purposes. Groundwater chemistry relies on many geochemical reactions along the flow path, so it is very https://doi.org/10.1016/j.totert.2023.100035 Received 3 August 2022; Revised 4 February 2023; Accepted 6 March 2023 2772-8099/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: vangalasunitha@gmail.com (V. Sunitha). Total Environment Research Themes 6 (2023) 100035 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Total Environment Research Themes journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/totert