Chemical Assessment of Iron in the groundwater of Saharsa District, Bihar

As the people are suffering from many types of diseases due to consumption of polluted water and hence to create awareness and to avoid these diseases, regular monitoring of water quality is essential. Present paper reports the result of chemical assessment of iron in the groundwater of Saharsa District, Bihar which is situated at latitude 25035’ – 26028’ N and longitude 86018’– 86051’ E. All the ten community development blocks of Saharsa district have been selected as sampling sites and from each block two samples either from well or tube well, on the basis of availability of functioning well or tubewell have been collected for analysis. Thus, all together twenty samples were collected for pre- and postmonsoon seasons respectively in the year 2022. These samples were analyzed. The concentration of Iron (Fe) was found to be ranged from 0.457 ppm to 0.825 ppm for pre monsoon and 0.484 ppm to 0.848 ppm for post monsoon season. The average value was between 0.470 ppm to 0.846 ppm. As per U.S. Public Health Service (USPH) standard for drinking water the acceptable concentration of iron is 0.100 ppm and the water having 1.000 ppm iron is the cause of rejection. As per the internal standard for drinking water, prescribed by WHO, the maximum allowable limit of iron is 1.000 ppm. Though the values of iron are higher than the acceptable value of 0.100 ppm prescribed by USPH but these are within the maximum allowable limit of 1.000 ppm prescribed by WHO.