ORIGINAL ARTICLE Impact assessment of textile effluent on groundwater quality in the vicinity of Tirupur industrial area, southern India Shashi Prabha • Manish Kumar • Alok Kumar • Pallavi Das • AL. Ramanathan Received: 20 February 2012 / Accepted: 28 February 2013 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Abstract Adverse effect of rapid industrialization on groundwater quality and quantity is widely known problem especially in developing countries. Tirupur, which is situated on the bank of Noyyal River in India, is known for intensive textile processing activities. As groundwater is the main water source for drinking water, there is an urgency to assess the groundwater quality. Twenty groundwater samples were collected for each post and pre-monsoon sampling during August 2009 and March 2010, respectively. Chemical and statistical analysis along with numerical modelling has been performed to assess the current status. The hydro-geochem- ical study revealed that the dominance of Mg–Cl and Na– HCO 3 groundwater type in the upstream region Tirupur industrial hub of Noyyal River basin. Na–Cl groundwater type was found increasing in industrial hub (Kasipalayam) and downstream of the industrial hub (Anaipalayam) sites. The dominance of Na–Cl type of water is mainly due to the impact of salts like NaCl, Na 2 SO 4 , etc. used in textile pro- cessing, which after discharge, percolate and accumulate in the aquifers. Seasonal groundwater quality of Tirupur region as a whole showed the dominance of Ca–HCO 3 - , Na– HCO 3 - and Na–Cl water types. PHREEQC model output indicates that nearly all the groundwater samples were oversaturated with respect to calcite and dolomite and undersaturated with respect to gypsum and halite. The results obtained in this study were then compared with groundwater quality of the Noyyal River basin for the year 2008–2009. Among the two sites, Kasipalayam was found to be most contaminated due to incessant industrial discharge. But with the advent of new treatment technologies like CETPs having zero liquid discharge system and MBR, there has been slight decline in the concentration of different physicochemical parameters from 2002–2003 to 2008–2009. This study not only makes situation alarming but also calls for immediate attention for sustainable management of water resources. Keywords Industrial effluent Á PHREEQC Á Groundwater quality Á Textile industries Á India Introduction Due to urbanization and expanding economic activities, about 13 % of the world’s population do not have access to safe drinking water (WHO and UNICEF 2010). With current trend of water demand, water shortage will become even more intense and approximately, half of the world’s population will suffer from major water scarcity by the year 2030 (UNESCO-WWAP 2009). Textile wastewater includes a large variety of dyes and chemical additions that pose an environmental challenge for textile industry not only as liquid waste but also due to its chemical compo- sition (Venceslau et al. 1994).The shifting of irrigation water to fulfil the need of industrial use as well as water quality and lowering of water table around Tirupur textile hub has been reported in several studies (Datta 2009). The surface as well as groundwater quality induces environ- mental degradation over long period of time because of discharge of highly contaminated effluent accelerated by overexploitation of existing water resources (Phiri et al. 2005; Carneiro et al. 2010). Continuous discharge of S. Prabha Á A. Kumar Á AL. Ramanathan School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India e-mail: meshashi@gmail.com M. Kumar (&) Á P. Das Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University, Napaam, Sonitpur, Assam 784 028, India e-mail: manish.env@gmail.com 123 Environ Earth Sci DOI 10.1007/s12665-013-2361-8