RESEARCH ARTICLE Geospatial Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Udhampur District, Jammu and Kashmir, India Khalid Omar Murtaza 1 • Shakil Ahmad Romhoo 1 • Irfan Rashid 1 • Waheed Shah 1 Received: 27 April 2017 / Revised: 4 June 2019 / Accepted: 8 June 2019 Ó The National Academy of Sciences, India 2019 Abstract In the present study, spatial variation of groundwater quality parameters in Udhampur district, Jammu and Kashmir, India, has been evaluated for drink- ing water purposes using geographic information system techniques. In total, 211 GW samples were collected from different sources, i.e. dug wells, springs and tube wells covering the entire district during the pre- and post-mon- soon seasons. The GW samples were analysed for various physico-chemical parameters like pH, total hardness, cal- cium, magnesium, iron, fluoride, sulphate, nitrate, potas- sium, chloride, sodium, bicarbonate and total dissolved solids using the standard methods. Inverse distance- weighted interpolation technique has been applied for predicting the spatial distribution of the GW parameters. The Canadian Council of Ministers for the Environment Water Quality Index, generated to assess the spatial vari- ability of the groundwater quality, revealed that the groundwater in the area is of good quality falling within the permissible limits and therefore potable during both the pre- and post-monsoon seasons. Keywords Groundwater quality Á GIS Á Inverse distance-weighted interpolation Á CCME WQI 1 Introduction The sustenance of water resources is an important indicator of health and socio-economic status of many nations worldwide [1, 2]. The quality of water determines its use for human, animal, agricultural and industrial purposes. In view of the depleting surface water resources in the Himalayas [3, 4], GW becomes an important supplement to supply water for various human uses. According to the UNEP [5] estimates, approximately one-third of the world population uses groundwater for drinking purposes. How- ever, recent studies have shown that anthropogenic activ- ities, urbanization and industrialization are affecting the quality of groundwater [6–11]. Poor quality of groundwater poses a severe threat to human health, plant growth and socio-economic development [12, 13]. About 80% of all diseases in developing countries, including India, are directly related to the unhygienic conditions and the poor quality of drinking water [14]. A number of geochemical processes and biophysical factors govern the physico- chemical characteristics of the groundwater. The quality of recharging water, precipitation, unscientific disposal of human and industrial wastes, reckless use of fertilizers and pesticides, the chemical composition of parent rock, resi- dence time, rock–water interactions, reactions with aquifer minerals, etc. have great impacts on the quality of groundwater [15–19]. It hence becomes imperative to evaluate the spatiotemporal patterns of groundwater quality parameters and understand the processes that affect the GW potability and sustainable exploitation of the GW resources. Geographic information system (GIS) is used to pre- cisely determine spatiotemporal variability and suitability of groundwater quality (GWQ) for drinking, industrial and agricultural purposes by generating seamless surfaces from & Shakil Ahmad Romhoo shakilrom@kashmiruniversity.ac.in 1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India 123 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. A Phys. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40010-019-00630-7