J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2015 33 | Panigrahy et al. RESEARCH PAPER OPEN ACCESS Assessment of heavy metal pollution index for groundwater around Jharia Coalfield Region, India Binay Prakash Panigrahy, Prasoon Kumar Singh, Ashwani Kumar Tiwari, Bijendra Kumar, Anjani kumar Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad-826004, Jharkhand, India Article published on March 02, 2015 Key words: Heavy Metal Pollution Index, Groundwater, Heavy Metals, Jharia coalfield. Abstract Assessment of the seasonal variations of the groundwater with respect to heavy metals contamination. For this purpose, 29 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, iron, manganese, lead and zinc of Jharia coalfield region. In majority of the samples, the analyzed heavy metals are well within the desirable limits and water is potable for drinking purposes. However, concentration of the Fe and Mn exceeding the desirable limits in many groundwater samples in both the seasons. The HPI of groundwater was found 9.94 in pre-monsoon season and 5.24 in post-monsoon season. The HPI values of the samples within study area are found below the critical pollution index (100) in both the seasons, which shows that the groundwater was not polluted with respect of heavy metals. * Corresponding Author: Binay Prakash Panigrahy binaypanigrahy@gmail.com Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) ISSN: 2220-6663 (Print) 2222-3045 (Online) Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 33-39, 2015 http://www.innspub.net