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Vulnerability assessment of seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers of southern

Bangladesh: Water quality appraisals

Article  in  Environmental Nanotechnology Monitoring & Management · June 2021

DOI: 10.1016/j.enmm.2021.100498

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 Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enmm

Vulnerability assessment of seawater intrusion in coastal aquifers of

southern Bangladesh: Water quality appraisals
Md. Nazmul Hasan a, Md. Abu Bakar Siddique b, *, A. H. M. Selim Reza a, Rahat Khan c, *,
Md. Ahedul Akbor b, Iftakhar Bin Elius c, Asma Binta Hasan a, Mehedi Hasan b
a
Deparment of Geology and Mining, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh
b
Institute of National Analytical Research and Service (INARS), Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhanmondi, Dhaka 1205,
Bangladesh
c
Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), Savar, Dhaka 1349, Bangladesh

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Overexploitation of groundwater, sea level rising, shrimp cultivation, etc. are the main causes of seawater
Coastal groundwater intrusion in the coastal aquifers which is a growing concern around the globe. So to evaluate the seawater
Drinking and irrigation water intrusion in the coastal aquifers of southern Bangladesh (Paikgachha, Khulna), water quality parameters such as
GALDIT index
pH (7.75–8.82), EC (371–5320 µS cm− 1), TDS (182–2790 mg L-1), salinity (0.1–2.8 ppt), Na+ (14.8–1376 mg L-1),
Multivariate approaches
Southern Bangladesh
K+ (2.71–19.4 mg L-1), Ca2+ (33.2–192 mg L-1), Mg2+ (25–138 mg L-1), Cl- (18.2–3168 mg L-1), HCO−3 (205–840
Water salinity mg L-1), and CO2− -1
3 (6.22–149 mg L ) for 20 composite water samples, along with the hydro-geo-physical entities
were utilized. Additionally, groundwater quality distributions were also appraised for identifying the suitable
water sources for drinking and irrigation. Most of the sampling sites possessed mainly NaCl-type groundwater
where Na+ and Cl- contents were 2–6 times higher than the recommended limits. Indices-based calculations
indicated that only 35% of the sampling sites can provide good quality drinking water whereas groundwaters
from >50% of sampling sites were unsuitable for irrigation. Statistical approaches reveal the potential seawater
intrusion with trivial evidence of carbonate mineralization. Distributions of seawater intrusion vulnerability
among the studied area were specified by the GALDIT index. The central (30%), southern (25%), and northern
(45%) parts were identified as high, moderate, and low vulnerable zones, respectively due to saline water. Thus,
considering the heterogenic distribution of seawater intrusion vulnerability among the studied unconfined
aquifers, more intimate and detailed groundwater investigations are required on a periodical basis to explore
water for drinking and irrigation.

1. Introduction
Seawater intrusion is the most common form of groundwater im­
purity in coastal areas (Bear et al., 1999) where it poses a serious threat
to the water quality of coastal aquifers (Stewart, 1982). Worldwide, the
intrusion of the sweater in the coastal aquifers is a common problem
especially in the arid or semiarid regions in which the only source of
freshwater is the groundwater. Due to excessive pumping of freshwater,
the interior water pressure is reduced which intensifies the lateral
movement of seawater into the freshwater aquifers for a natural balance
(Abdalla, 2016). The incidence of seawater intrusion may be accelerated
by increasing demand for freshwater in the coastal areas and the ex­
pected impacts of climate change such as the excessive rise of sea level
and variations in the precipitations (Werner, 2010). These scenarios are
often complicated further by an increasing draft of groundwater and a
simultaneous reduction in the natural recharge (Sophiya and Syed,
2013). In addition to the natural process, anthropogenic activities such
as urbanization, over-extraction, and agricultural process are the main
responsible factors for sweater intrusion and the deterioration of water
quality in the coastal aquifers (Mondal et al., 2011; Selvam et al., 2013;
Islam et al., 2017a).
Bangladesh, a riverine country, is considered one of the most
climate-vulnerable countries in the world. The groundwater and surface
water systems in Bangladesh, especially the southwestern coastal region,
are facing several water quality problems mainly due to the extremely
problematic issues of salinity (Bahar and Reza, 2010; Islam et al.,

* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: sagor.bcsir@gmail.com (Md.A.B. Siddique), rahatkhan.baec@gmail.com (R. Khan).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2021.100498
Received 28 February 2021; Received in revised form 6 April 2021; Accepted 9 June 2021
Available online 12 June 2021
2215-1532/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Md.N. Hasan et al.
2017a). In its southern part, the country has a coastal line of approxi­
mately 710 km areas that are highly susceptible to sea-level rise (Islam
et al., 2017b). The southwest part of Bangladesh comprising 21 Districts
has a river network of complex nature along with some other water
bodies such as Beels, Wetlands, and Khals. Among the 21 Districts, 7
Districts including Khulna are directly connected to the Bay of Bengal
and can be categorized as the coastal region of the southwest part of the
country (Ahmed et al., 2014). The salinity in the water and soil is a
common hazard in these coastal areas of Bangladesh (Bahar and Reza,
2010; Halim et al., 2010; Shammi et al., 2016; Islam et al., 2017b). The
people in this region are severely suffering from scarcity of safe water for
drinking, irrigation, agricultural, and domestic uses caused by an
increased level of salinity (Mahmuduzzaman et al., 2014). In the last
three and half-decade, the salinity in the coastal regions of Bangladesh
has been increased to around 26% (Mahmuduzzaman et al., 2014; Alam
et al., 2017) and in the current times, almost 53% of the coastal regions
of the country are affected by salinity (Islam et al., 2017a). The upstream
abstractions of the groundwater in the coastal areas reduce the ability of
freshwater to hold back salinity intrusion and this is a major concern in
the Khulna region and the other parts of the southern half of southwest
Bangladesh (WARPO (Water Resources Planning Organisation), 1999).
The southern part of the country is thus in high danger and susceptible to
natural disasters, and the quality of groundwater in these areas has been
deteriorating day by day (Islam et al., 2017b). Some researchers inves­
tigated the groundwater quality in the southwest part (Khulna District)
(Bahar and Reza, 2010; Shammi et al., 2016; Islam et al., 2017a), and
southern-central part (Barguna and Patuakhali Districts) of the coastal
region of Bangladesh (Islam et al., 2017b) and reported the degradation
of water quality due to the intrusion of saline water in the groundwater
aquifers which is unsuitable for drinking and irrigation. However, to the
best of our knowledge, no detailed studies were found so far which
evaluated the vulnerability and groundwater quality due to the seawater
intrusion in the coastal aquifer of the Paikgachha Upazila of the south­
western part of Khulna District, Bangladesh.
The magnitude of salinity intrusion in coastal regions depends on a
rational balance between the flows of freshwater and seawater (Bhat­
tacharya, 2015). The inside geology, hydrology, groundwater heads,
and the pumping rates of the groundwater well significantly influence
the freshwater and saline water interface. However, freshwater plays an
important role to counterbalance the salinity intrusion at the upstream
water intake (Rahman and Bhattacharya, 2014). The extent of intrusion
of saline water into the coastal aquifers is controlled by several pa­
rameters such as the depth of the groundwater, the distance separating
the wells from the coastline, hydraulic conductivity, the overall rate of
aquifer discharge compared to freshwater recharge, and the existence of
confining units that may prevent the moving of seawater vertically to­
ward or within the aquifer (Barlow and Reichard, 2010; Saidi et al.,
2013; Abdalla, 2016).
Most probably the first and appropriate approach to prevent
groundwater pollution is to identify the vulnerable area(s) of the con­
cerned aquifer (Mirzavand and Ghazavi, 2015; Mirzavand et al., 2018).
The intrinsic characteristics of the aquifer in the coastal belt determine
the sensitivity of the groundwater quality to attributed pumpage of
groundwater or/and rise in the sea level (Chachadi et al., 2002; Lobo-
Ferreira et al., 2007). Many techniques were introduced to investigate
the vulnerability of groundwater systems such as overlay/index tech­
niques, process-based techniques, numerical techniques, and process-
based techniques (Mirzavand et al., 2018). Among these, the most
important is the overlay/index techniques which comprised of
DRASTIC, EPIK, SINTACS, and GOD as introduced by Aller et al. (1987a,
1987b), Doerfliger et al. (1999), Vrba and Zaporozec (1994), and Foster
(1987), respectively. However, one of the new techniques among the
overlay/index named GALDIT currently assessing the groundwater
vulnerability to seawater intrusion more appropriately. The technique
evaluates the rate of pollution with the intrusion of saline water into the
coastal groundwater aquifers (Mirzavand et al., 2018).
2
Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498
The main objectives of this research work are to (1) assess the current
status of the seawater intrusion zone in the Paikgachha Upazila of the
southwestern part of Khulna District, Bangladesh for the first time, (2)
identify the seawater intrusion areas more vulnerable to the human
health using GALDIT technique, (3) identify the probabilistic sources of
groundwater pollutants using multivariate statistical techniques, and (4)
identify saline water intrusion free aquifer which is more useful for
drinking, domestic, and irrigation purposes.
2. Experimental
2.1. Sampling site and its geological settings
Paikgachha (an administrative unit: 411.19 km2) is situated in the
southwestern part of Khulna District, Bangladesh along the Bay of
Bengal (Azam, 2011). It lies between latitude 22o28′ 00′′ to 22o43′ 00′′
north and longitude 89o15′ 50′′ to 89o24′ 75′′ east (Fig. 1a). Shibsa is the
main river of the study area which passes through the southeastern part
of Paikgachha Upazila. This area shows the world’s largest submarine
fan and lies offshore of Bangladesh. Tectonically, the study area is sit­
uated at the Bengal foredeep portion that is specifically indicating the
unfolded western part of the Bengal foredeep, which is a depressed area.
This depressed area is filled by the eroded sediments which are carried
by the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna ranges (Khan and Rahman, 1992).
The common horizontal to sub-horizontal sedimentary layers is free
from the major tectonic deformation in the foredeep area. This unit is
represented by the river plain to the delta plain surface topography and
covers the central part of the basin. Fig. 1b shows the geological cross-
section of the study area which indicates the upper portion 5 to 6 m
clay layer and below the clay layer, 6 to 100 m indicates the fine sand to
medium sand.
The Bengal delta is the largest in the world for its varied and complex
drainage and river system. The current floodplains in Bangladesh were
built by the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, and their tributaries
and distributaries (Roy et al., 2019). The study area shows the coastal
drainage system by the tidal river character and mixed drainage pattern
which is the parts of the Ganges delta. According to Roy et al. (2019), the
aquifer system of the Ganges deltaic in the entire part of southwestern
Bangladesh has been constructed mainly by the deposition of the late
Holocene to the current sediments carried by the Ganges River. The
geological information of the present subsurface demonstrated that most
of the good aquifers of the country are found at a depth of 30–130 m
which deposited the sediments of mostly medium to the fine sand, silt,
and clay types. This area represents the upper aquifer or first type of
aquifer and the uppermost zone bearing the water. In the coastal zone,
the water in this aquifer is mostly saline with occasional freshwater
pockets (BWDB-UNDP (Bangladesh Water Development Board-United
Nations Development Programme), 1982).
2.2. Sample collections, processing, and analysis
For collecting groundwater samples, twenty hand tube-wells with a
depth of 15–34 m were randomly selected from eight Unions of the
Paikgachha Upazilla in Khulna District (Fig. 1a). A total of sixty water
samples from the selected twenty tube-wells (taking triplicate from each
tube-well with a well-pumping gap of approximately 5 min.) were
collected in the pre-cleaned 500 mL plastic bottles following our pre­
vious works (Islam et al., 2019; Ahsan et al., 2019; Ahmed et al., 2021).
For ensuring the representativeness of sampling, the triplicate samples
from each of the twenty tube-well were mixed in a 2-L cleaned plastic
container to obtain a total of twenty composite samples from the study
area. Then, the collected samples were immediately carried to the lab­
oratory and preserved at 4 ℃ for chemical analysis.
The physicochemical parameters of the groundwater samples such as
pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and salinity were measured in situ with
a calibrated portable Multiparameter meter (Model: sensionTM 156,
Md.N. Hasan et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

Fig. 1. (a) Location map and (b) Geological cross section of the study area in Paikgachha, Khulna, Bangladesh (Source: BWDB (Bangladesh Water Development
Board), 2013).

HACH, USA). The water temperature was also recorded in situ using a m) number of groundwater samples with n (j = 1, 2, …, n) number of the
calibrated thermometer. Total dissolved solids (TDS) were estimated in analyzed parameters, the eigenvalue matrix, X can be expressed by Eq.
the laboratory by the gravimetric method (Ahsan et al., 2019). The (1).
concentration of TDS; major cations viz., Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+; and ⎡ ⎤
x11 x12 ⋯ x1n
anions viz., Cl-, F-, Br-, NO−2 , SO2- 2−
4 , HCO3 , CO3 for all samples were
−
⎢ x x22 ⋯ x2n ⎥
determined at the Institute of National Analytical Research and Service X = ⎣ ⋮21 ⋮⋱ ⋮ ⎦ (1)
(ISO/IEC 17025: 2017 accredited laboratory), Bangladesh Council of xm1 xm2 ⋯ xmn
Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The cations such as Na+ and K+ were analyzed using a flame To remove the influences of the contents of the analyzed parameters
with various measurement units, the eigenvalue matrix (X) was then
photometer (Model: PFP7, Jenway, UK) while the concentrations of
Ca2+ and Mg2+ were estimated using atomic absorption spectropho­ transformed into a standard grade matrix (Y) (Eq. (3)) using the
tometer (Model: AA240FS, Varian, Australia). The concentrations of efficiency-type (Eq. (2)) normalization approach (Pei-Yue et al., 2010).
anions viz., Cl-, F-, Br-, NO−2 , and SO2-
( )
4 were determined by Ion Chro­ Xij − Xij min
matograph (Model: SIC10AVP, Shimadzu, Japan) whereas the HCO−3 Yij = ( ) ( ) (2)
Xij max − Xij min
and CO2− 3 were estimated titrimetrically. The detailed techniques of the
sample preparations and analysis for the mentioned cations and anions ⎡
y11 y12 ⋯ y1n
⎤
are described elaborately in our previous reports (Siddique et al., 2020; ⎢ y21 xy22 ⋯ y2n ⎥
Ahsan et al., 2019; Chowdhury et al., 2017). The quality control in the Y = ⎣ (3)
⋮ ⋮⋱ ⋮ ⎦
sample analysis to ensure the highly reliable results were essentially the ym1 ym2 ⋯ ymn
same as reported earlier (Ahsan et al., 2019; Siddique et al., 2020; Hasan
Then, the ratio of the measured parameter index (Pij), information
et al., 2020; Habib et al., 2020). The final results of the measurements
entropy (ej), and entropy weight (ωj) can be estimated using Eqs. (4–6).
for all the considered water quality parameters were reported as the
mean concentrations of the three replicate analyses (relative standard Yij
Pij = ∑m (4)
deviation: < 5%) of the same composite groundwater samples sourced i=1 Yij
from the same sampling points.
1 ∑ m
( )
ej = − Pij × lnPij (5)
ln(m) i=1
2.3. Water quality assessment and categorization
1 − ej
Along with the comparison of analyzed parameters with the recog­ ωj = ∑m ( ) (6)
j=1 1 − ej
nized recommended limits (e.g., WHO (World Health Organization),
2011; ECR (The Environment Conservation Rules), 1997), information The scale of the quality rating (qj) for the analyzed parameter (j) can
of entropy-based water quality index (EWQI) was utilized to evaluate be computed from the obtained result (Cj) and the standard value (Sj) for
the water quality for drinking in terms of the analytical parameters. The the respective parameter by Eq. (7).
entropy concept for assessing water quality (Islam et al., 2020) contains
the subsequent steps. To estimate the entropy weight for m (i = 1, 2, …,

3
Md.N. Hasan et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

Cj performed using the ArcGIS software (version 3.2).

qj = × 100 (7)
Sj

From Eqs. (6) and (7), EWQI can be estimated by Eq. (8).
∑
n
EWQI = ωj qj
j=1
Depending on EWQI values, water samples can be classified into five
categories: excellent for drinking (EWQI < 50), good for drinking (50 ≤
EWQI < 100), moderate (for domestic, irrigation, and industrial usage,
100 ≤ EWQI < 150 ), poor (not suitable for drinking, 150 ≤ EWQI <
200 ), and extremely poor (unacceptable, EWQI ≥ 200).
Furthermore, to identify the water types, the compositions of the
major ions were plotted on a Piper Trilinear (Piper, 1953) and a Durov
diagram (Durov, 1948) using AquaChem (version 3.7) software. Besides
these, Wilcox’s diagram (Wilcox, 1948), a plot of EC versus Na%, was
utilized to classify the groundwater quality for irrigation (Roy et al.,
2019). The soluble sodium percentage (SSP) or Na% was used to esti­
mate the sodium hazard (Islam et al., 2017a) and can be defined as (Eq.
(9)) (Todd, 1980).
SSP or Na% =
Na+ + K +
× 100%
Ca2+ + Mg2+ + Na+ + K +
2.4. Statistical approaches and data representations
The obtained data of the analyzed water quality parameters were
treated statistically using the IBM SPSS software (version 20, IBM Cor­
poration, Armonk, NY, USA). The dispersions and behaviors of the data
were viewed by computing their descriptive statistics (Habib and Khan,
2021; Hasan et al., 2020; Habib et al., 2019, 2018). Multivariate ap­
proaches of statistical analyses including principal component analysis
(PCA), and cluster analysis (CA) along with the Pearson’s correlation
matrix (CM) were utilized to identify the data distribution patterns
(Siddique et al., 2020) and the probabilistic sources of the water pol­
lutants based on their similar or dissimilar associations in the samples
(Hasan et al., 2020; Ahsan et al., 2019; Khan et al., 2019, 2020, 2021).
The spatial distribution analysis of the measured parameters was
2.5. Groundwater vulnerability assessment
(8) The term vulnerability for groundwater aquifers refers to the risk and
its degree of measure to which such activity might influence the water
quality (Majandang and Sarapirome, 2013; Machiwal et al., 2018).
Groundwater vulnerability measures the sensitivity or susceptibility of
the aquifers to being adversely contaminated or affected by the natural
and/or anthropogenic activities degrading the overall quality of water
(Foster et al., 2013; Arauzo, 2017). The vulnerability of groundwater
was measured by the GALDIT vulnerability index parameter as proposed
by Chachadi and Lobo-Ferreira (2001). Six important physical param­
eters (abbreviated as GALDIT) have been utilized to identify the
seawater intrusion for different hydro-geological settings (Chachadi and
Lobo-Ferreira, 2001). These are as follows: (1) Groundwater occurrence
(aquifer types: unconfined, confined, and leaky confined), (2) Aquifer
hydraulic conductivity, (3) Level of groundwater above the mean sea
level, (4) Distance from the shore (distance inland perpendicular from
the shoreline), (5) Impact of the existing status of seawater intrusion in
(9) the area, and (6) Thickness of the aquifer.
GALDIT index factors determine the vulnerability range to the
seawater intrusion (Chachadi and Lobo-Ferreira, 2001). These factors
are important in the varied hydrogeological setting. The seawater
intrusion extent is identified utilizing the nature of the groundwater
occurrence. The parameter ‘G’ and ‘A’ are assigned to the aquifer type
and aquifer hydraulic conductivity, respectively. The parameter ‘L’
measures the variation in the groundwater level which is compared to
the different periods (dry and wet season). The parameter ‘D’ is indi­
cating the distance from the shore and is measured generally from the
satellite image. The parameter ‘I’ is examined by the ratio of [Cl-]/
[HCO−3 +CO2−3 ]. These ions measured chemically are commonly referred
to as the Revelle coefficient which is used to evaluate the percentage of
dominant ions in seawater and freshwater. The parameter ‘T’ described
the thickness of the aquifer and is measured by the borehole data of the
study area. All the parameters are described by Chachadi and Lobo-
Ferreira (2001) standard (Table 1) which represents the weight and

Table 1
Rating and weight values of different hydrogeological parameters according to their relative importance (Chachadi and Lobo-ferreira, 2001).
Indicators Weight Class Range Importance rating

Groundwater occurrence/aquifer type 1 Confined aquifer 10

Unconfined aquifer 7.5
Leaky Confined aquifer 5
Bounded aquifer (recharge and/ or impervious 2.5
boundary aligned parallel to the coast)
Aquifer hydraulic conductivity (m/day) 3 High >40 10
Medium 10–40 7.5
Low 5–10 5
Very low <5 2.5
Level of the groundwater above the mean sea level 4 High <1.0 10
Medium 1.0–1.5 7.5
Low 1.5–2.0 5
Very low >2.0 2.5
Distance from shore/high tide (m) 4 Very small <500 10
Small 500–750 7.5
Medium 750–1000 5
Far >1000 2.5
Impact status of existing seawater intrusion 1 High >2.0 10
Medium 1.5–2.0 7.5
Low 1.0–1.5 5
Very low <1.0 2.5
Aquifer thickness 2 High >10 10
Medium 7.5–10 7.5
Low 5–7.5 5
Very low <5 2.5

4
 Md.N. Hasan et al.
Table 2
Measured parameters in groundwater (Paikgachha, Khulna, Bangladesh) with their descriptive statistics along with the parameters for entropy water quality index (EWQI) calculation.
Sample Depth pH EC Temp. TDS Salinity Na+ K+ Ca2+ Mg2+ Cl- F- Br- NO2− SO42- HCO3− CO32− EWQI

[m] [µS/cm] [ C]
◦
[mg/L] [ppt] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L] [mg/L]
S1 28 8.50 2865 23 1388 1.5 509 12.9 105 114 929 21.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 521 43.5 326
S2 25 8.57 2980 23 1526 1.5 238 13.3 79.8 86.2 968 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 354 31.1 299
S3 30 8.82 752 24 367 0.3 67.2 12.3 80.1 58.5 52.3 22.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 363 49.7 93.6
S4 34 8.32 740 23 360 0.3 61.8 7.14 79.4 58.3 45.6 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 411 14.4 83.4
S5 28 8.76 827 23 404 0.4 116 7.46 84.9 52.7 61.3 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 442 40.4 100
S6 22 8.45 392 23 191 0.1 45.5 3.68 96.2 24.6 24.4 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 237 18.7 54.4
S7 28 8.62 720 23 351 0.3 45.5 7.78 34.4 55.7 61.6 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 360 37.3 79.9
S8 20 8.61 514 23 250 0.2 23.8 5.41 100 59.3 18.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 284 9.32 64.1
S9 22 8.48 371 23 182 0.1 56.3 3.62 96.7 55.1 21.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 259 6.22 56.3
S10 22 8.44 436 24 211 0.2 14.8 2.72 106 36.6 84.1 23.6 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 205 9.32 58.4
S11 19 8.50 955 24 470 0.4 105 7.46 97.8 83.9 234 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 291 12.4 116
S12 20 8.42 5320 23 2790 2.8 240 8.02 98.00 80.0 2194 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 369 34.9 516
S13 23 8.19 2280 23 1152 1.1 284 9.71 102 82.8 793 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 306 15.5 248
S14 22 8.79 1727 24 862 0.8 203 11.00 58.9 68.3 513 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 348 15.5 185
5

S15 17 8.46 1985 23 1038 1.0 1051 12.6 192 118 3168 23.3 <0.1 <0.1 4.5 215 8.2 484
S16 15 7.75 4620 23 2410 2.4 780 19.4 191 138 2033 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 278 6.22 532
S17 15 8.78 5300 23 2790 2.8 1268 11.00 50.2 60.5 2126 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 601 78.0 607
S18 17 8.82 4690 23 2450 2.5 1105 15.5 33.2 81.9 1707 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 639 92.4 536
S19 25 8.80 4470 23 2330 2.4 1376 18.7 39.9 88.1 1528 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 840 149 552
S20 25 8.81 4400 23 2300 2.3 1105 16.5 42.2 93.7 1648 21.2 673 109 522

Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

<0.1 <0.1 <0.1
Mean (n = 20) 22.9 8.54 2317 23.2 1191 1.2 435 10.3 88.0 74.7 910 22.2 4.5 400 39.1 276
SD (1σ) 5.1 0.26 1848 0.4 975 1.0 482 4.9 43.0 27.6 964 1.2 171 39.3 211
RSD (%) 22.3 3.08 80 1.8 82 86.2 111 47.3 49.0 36.9 106 5.2 43 101 77
Median 22 8.54 1856 23 950 0.9 221 10.4 91.0 74 653 22 4.5 357 24.9 216
Minimum 15 7.75 371 23 182 0.1 14.8 2.72 33.2 25 18.2 21.1 4.5 205 6.22 54.4
Maximum 34 8.82 5320 24 2790 2.8 1376 19.4 192 138 3168 23.6 4.5 840 149 607

Parameters for EWQI

Standard data (Sj)* 7 250 200 12 75 35 250 600 100
Information entropy (ej) 0.974 0.840 0.794 0.924 0.898 0.946 0.796 0.882 0.799
Entropy weight (ωj) 0.022 0.139 0.180 0.066 0.089 0.047 0.178 0.103 0.175

*Adopted from WHO (World Health Organization) (2011) and ECR (The Environment Conservation Rules), (1997).
Md.N. Hasan et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

rating values for every sample location. Thus, the GALDIT index is
calculated considering the estimated values of each GALDIT factor and
their corresponding weights following (Eq. (10)) for each of the sam­ Where W1-W6 represents the weights assigned to each hydro-
pling well locations. geological factor. GR, AR, LR, DR, IR, and TR are the respective ratings

[(W1 × GR ) + (W2 × AR ) + (W3 × LR ) + (W4 × DR ) + (W5 × IR ) + (W6 × TR )]

GALDIT = ∑6 (10)
i=1 W

Fig. 2. Distribution maps for (a) Na+, (b) Cl-, (c) HCO−3 and, (d) CO2−
3 concentrations in the groundwater of the Paikgachha, Khulna (southern Bangladesh).

6
Md.N. Hasan et al.
Fig. 3. (a) Piper diagram and (b) Durov diagram for the groundwater of the Paikgachha, Khulna (southern Bangladesh).
of each of the parameters. The vulnerability of the study area was
measured by the magnitude of the GALDIT index. A high score of the
GALDIT index indicates a high vulnerability rate of seawater intrusion in
the area. GALDIT index maps were prepared using 20 points of sampling
locations.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. General characteristics of groundwater
Results of physicochemical properties of groundwater samples
(Table 2) showed that pH, electrical conductivity (EC), temperature,
total dissolved solids (TDS), salinity, and depth ranged from 7.75 to 8.82
(mean: 8.54), 371–5320 µS cm− 1 (mean: 2317.20 µS cm− 1), 23–24 ◦ C
(mean: 23.2 ◦ C), 182–2790 mg L-1 (mean: 1191.1 mg L-1), 0.10–2.80 ppt
(mean: 1.17 ppt), 15–34 m (mean: 22.85 m), respectively. Elemental
abundances of dissolved metals in groundwater samples (Table 2)
revealed that the concentrations of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ ranged
from 14.8–1376 mg L-1 (mean: 434.79 mg L-1), 2.72–19.40 mg L-1
(mean: 10.30 mg L-1), 33.2–192 mg L-1 (mean: 88.4 mg L-1) and
24.6–138 mg L-1 (mean: 74.7 mg L-1), respectively. According to these
results, Na+ is the dominant cation in groundwater samples. The map for
the sodium concentrations (Fig. 2a) in the Paikgachha Upazilla shows
that the sampling site S19 located at the central portion (Lata Union) of
the studied area contained the maximum concentration of Na+
(1376.10 mg L-1) whereas the minimum concentration of Na+ (14.84 mg
L-1) is found at the northern (Gadaripur Union) part of the area. On the
other hand, results of anions analysis of groundwater samples (Table 2)
also showed that the concentrations of Cl-, F-, HCO−3 , and CO2−3 ranged
from 18.2 to 3168 mg L-1 (mean: 910 mg L-1), <0.1–23.6 mg L-1 (mean:
5.56 mg L-1), 205–840 mg L-1 (mean: 400 mg L-1), and 6.22–149 mg L-1
(mean: 39.1 mg L-1), respectively. These results revealed that the major
anion in the groundwater samples is Cl-. The map for Cl- concentration
(Fig. 2b) of the study area represents that the maximum value of Cl-
(3167.60 mg L-1) is found at the central part (Laskar Union) of the area
(i.e., sample no. S15) while the minimum value of Cl- (18.20 mg L-1) is
also found at the northern part (Gadaripur Union) of the area (i.e.,
sample no. S8). Piper’s trilinear diagram (Fig. 3a) and Durov diagram
(Fig. 3b) also identified that the groundwater at the Paikgachha Upazilla
of Khulna District (southern Bangladesh) is mainly of NaCl-type, where
the dominant cation and anion in most of the groundwater samples are
Na+ and Cl-, respectively (Roy et al., 2019). In the bicarbonate distri­
bution map (Fig. 2c), it is observed that the maximum (840.41 mg L-1)
7
Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498
concentrations of bicarbonate are found at the central part (Lata Union)
of the study area (sampling site S19) and minimum (205.36 mg L-1)
concentrations of bicarbonate are found at the northern portion
(Gadaripur Union) of the area (sample no. S18). Furthermore, the car­
bonate distribution map (Fig. 2d) demonstrated that the concentration
of carbonate is maximum (149.17 mg L-1) at the central portion (Lata
Union) of the study area (sample no. S19) and minimum (6.22 mg L-1)
concentration was found at the northern portion (Gadaripur and Laskar
Union) of the area (sample no. S9 and S16).
3.2. Groundwater quality assessment
The level of the analyzed parameters of the groundwater samples of
the study area was compared and correlated with WHO (World Health
Organization) (2011) and Bangladesh recommended standards (ECR
(The Environment Conservation Rules), 1997) for drinking water pur­
poses and showed that concentrations of sodium in 55% sampling sites
(11 sampling sites: sample no. S1, S2, S12-20) exceeded the WHO
guideline value for drinking water quality (GDWQ) (200 mg L-1) and
ECR value (200 mg L-1). Seven out of the Na-contaminated 11 sampling
sites were highly polluted (2.5–6.9 times of WHO limit: sample no. S1,
S15-20). The Cl- concentrations in 50% groundwater samples (S1, S2,
S12, S13, S15-20) were higher than the GDWQ value (600 mg L-1) and
Bangladesh domestic water quality standard value (150–600 mg L-1).
Seven sampling sites (Sample no. S12, S15-20) out of 10 Cl--enriched
sampling sites are highly polluted (2.5–6.9 times of WHO limit). Station
15 (Laskar Union) has the highest concentration (3167.60 mg L-1) of Cl-
and the Cl- contents in the rest of the 10 sampling sites were within the
GDWQ value (600 mg L-1) and ECR value (150–600 mg L-1). However,
HCO−3 and CO2− 3 concentrations in the groundwater samples from only
four (S17-20) and two (S19-20) sampling sites, respectively were higher
than those of the recommended values (WHO (World Health Organi­
zation), 2011; ECR (The Environment Conservation Rules), 1997) for
drinking water.
For evaluating the groundwater quality, entropy water quality index
(EWQI) was used which can recognize the weightage of each analytical
parameter (Pei-Yue et al., 2010) intrinsically instead of using consensus-
based weightage. EWQI for each of the groundwater sample from each
sampling station was calculated with respect to the recommended values
(Si: for pH, EC, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, HCO−3 , and CO2−3 , Table 2) by
WHO (World Health Organization) (2011) and ECR (The Environment
Conservation Rules), (1997). EWQI values for the studied samples
ranged between 54.5 and 607 with a mean value of 276, which revealed
Md.N. Hasan et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

Table 3
Varimax rotated factor loadings and communalities of water quality parameters
and sampling sites (strong and moderate loadings are in bold face).
Parameters (R-mode) PC1 PC2 PC3 Communalities

pH − 0.076 0.878 0.240 0.835

EC 0.913 0.165 − 0.241 0.919
Temperature − 0.377 0.064 0.643 0.560
TDS 0.911 0.166 − 0.245 0.918
Salinity 0.915 0.175 − 0.235 0.923
Na+ 0.883 0.268 0.033 0.854
K+ 0.863 0.126 0.108 0.773
Ca2+ 0.125 ¡0.931 0.199 0.922
Mg2+ 0.795 − 0.400 0.133 0.810
Cl- 0.902 − 0.170 0.016 0.842
F- 0.145 − 0.058 0.889 0.814
HCO−3 0.571 0.758 − 0.110 0.913
CO2−3 0.556 0.788 − 0.009 0.929
Eigenvalue 6.660 2.915 1.437
% of total variance 48.397 24.642 11.662
Cumulative % of variance 48.397 73.039 84.702

Sampling sites (Q-mode) PC1 PC2 Communalities

S1 0.646 0.761 0.997
S2 0.626 0.770 0.985
S3 0.895 0.444 0.998
S4 0.912 0.406 0.996
S5 0.897 0.434 0.993
S6 0.926 0.359 0.987
S7 0.887 0.452 0.992
S8 0.929 0.364 0.996
S9 0.938 0.306 0.974
S10 0.859 0.488 0.976
S11 0.762 0.645 0.997
S12 0.558 0.817 0.978
S13 0.619 0.781 0.993
S14 0.679 0.732 0.996
S15 0.013 0.929 0.863
Fig. 4. Classification of groundwater samples for irrigation purposes (after S16 0.525 0.848 0.994
Wilcox 1948) in the Paikgachha Upazila of Khulna District, Bangladesh. S17 0.556 0.827 0.994
S18 0.587 0.804 0.992
S19 0.609 0.780 0.979
a heterogeneous distribution of water quality over the studied sites.
S20 0.588 0.804 0.992
None of the sampling sites possess the excellent quality (EWQI < 50) of Eigenvalue 18.063 1.611
water for drinking. Only 35% of the sampling site (sample no. S3, S4, S6- % of total variance 53.783 44.586
10) can provide good quality (50 ≤ EWQI < 100 ) drinking water. Cumulative % of variance 53.783 98.369
Groundwater samples from only 10% (S5, S11) sampling sites possess
groundwater with moderate category (100 ≤ EWQI < 150 ) which can
corresponding uncertainty on estimated EWQI. In this work water
be used for domestic, irrigation, or industrial purposes instead of
samples from only three sampling stations (S3, S5, and S6; out of 20
drinking. However, the groundwater samples from 5% (S14) and 50%
samples) possess EWQI values which can change their threshold limits
(S1, S2, S12, S13, S15-20) sampling sites were ranked as poor (150 ≤
considering the highest analytical uncertainty (10%). In elucidating the
EWQI < 200 ) and extremely poor (EWQI ≥ 200), respectively which
groundwater quality by EWQI, the linkage between entropy weightage
were not allowed for drinking. However, each water quality parameters
(ωj) and information entropy (ej) should be explored. Measured pa­
possess 5–10% analytical uncertainties, which can also introduce
rameters with larger ωj and minimal ej values have the maximum

Fig. 5. Principal component analysis of (a) the analyzed water quality parameters and (b) the sampling sites by scree plot of the characteristic roots (eigenvalues),
and component plot in rotated space.

8
Md.N. Hasan et al.
influence on groundwater quality (Islam et al., 2020). According to the
EWQI estimations (Table 2), influences of the measured parameters on
the groundwater quality follow the descendant sequences as Na+ > Cl- >
CO2−3 > EC > HCO3 > Ca
− 2+
> K+ > Mg2+ > pH. However, considering
the EWQI values, groundwater quality from diverse sampling stations
deteriorated as S17 > S19 > S18 > S16 > S20 > S12 > S15 > S1 > S2 >
S13 > S14 > S11 > S5 > S3 > S4 > S7 > S8 > S10 > S9 > S6.
Furthermore, the suitability of groundwater samples for agricultural
use was assessed utilizing the percentage of Na+ concentration in the
samples (Wilcox, 1948) since Na+ combining with CO2− 3 can lead to the
existence of alkaline soils, and when combined with Cl- impose a saline
nature in the soils. For agricultural uses, the maximum allowable con­
centration of Na+ in the groundwater is 15% (Wilcox, 1955; Islam et al.,
2017a). In this study, most of the water samples mainly collected from
the southern part of the study area fell in the unsuitable class (Fig. 4) for
irrigation use according to Wilcox (1948) and Roy et al. (2019) and only
eight water samples of the shallow tube-well fell within the good to
permissible class.
3.3. Source apportionment and co-occurrence of analytical parameters
The probabilistic origin of the analyzed water quality parameters
was identified employing principal component analysis (PCA), which
extracted three controlling factors for the analytical datasets of the pa­
rameters with eigenvalues > 1 (Fig. 5a). The number of principal
components (PCs) of the datasets is identified in the scree plot (Fig. 5a)
which sorted the eigenvalues in descending order as a function of the PC
number. The observed factor loadings and the percentage of cumulative
and variance explained by the factors are shown in Table 3. The initial
data dimensions of the samples are reduced by the factors without
considerable loss of data, and about 84.7% of the total variance is
explained by whole factors. The factor scores loaded positively on a
specific factor in PCA are attributed to the significant contribution of the
respective parameters affecting the water samples quality, while nega­
tively loaded scores indicated an essentially unaffected situation of the
samples by those respective parameters. The loadings of PC were cate­
gorized as strong, moderate, and weak, respectively according to the
loading values of >0.75, 0.75–0.50, and 0.50–0.30 (Ahsan et al., 2019).
PC1, PC2, and PC3 explained about 48.4%, 24.6%, and 11.7% of the
total variance, respectively. PC1 which is accounted for 48.4% of the
total variance, demonstrated the highest and strong positive loadings of
the factors mainly due to EC, TDS, Salinity, Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Cl-; and
moderate positive loadings of HCO−3 and CO2− 3 . These parameters are
attributed to the saline water intrusion in the coastal aquifer of the
studied area. PC2 explained 24.6% of the total variance and strong
Fig. 6. Dendrogram obtained by hierarchical clustering analysis for (a) measured water quality parameters, and (b) sampling sites.
9
Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498
positive loadings of pH, HCO−3 , and CO2− 3 while strong negative loading
of Ca2+ indicates their justifiable associations in the water with the
trivial dissolution of calcite or dolomite. PC3 accounted for 11.7% of the
total variance with the moderate positive loading of temperature and
strong positive loading of F-. The overall study of PCA depicts that the
water in the studied regions is mainly polluted from seawater intrusion.
Based on the level of the analyzed water quality parameters, PCA
extracted two loading factors with eigenvalues > 1 (Fig. 5b) for the 20
sampling points, explaining 98.4% of the total variance. However, an
insight of the outcome of the PCA analysis of the sampling sites (Q-
mode) showed that most of the sampling sites (S1, S2, S12-20) are
loaded positively on PC2 which are enriched with the Na+ and Cl- and
indicates seawater intrusion.
Based on the information derived from PCA, hierarchical cluster
analysis (CA) was employed (Ahsan et al., 2019) to detect spatial simi­
larities in the physical and chemical parameters of water samples and to
classify the analyzed water quality parameters based on their similar
behavior (Hasan et al., 2020). Three main clusters can be identified in
the dendrogram retained from the CA employed on the parameters
measured with Ward’s method and the Euclidean distance as a measure
of similarity (Fig. 6a). Cluster 1 included the EC, TDS, Salinity, Na+, Cl-,
K+, and Mg2+, which were identified in the PC1 (Table 3) as contami­
nants of seawater origin. Cluster 2, which contained HCO−3 , CO2− 3 , and
pH were identified in the PC2 (Table 3) and indicates the carbonate
minerals dissolution in the groundwater. Temperature, F-, and Ca2+
constitute cluster 3 indicating their common association in the water
body. The cluster analysis of the sampling sites (Fig. 6b) is also in good
agreement with the PCA outcome of the sampling sites strengthening the
overall study.
Pearson’s correlation coefficient matrices were used to identify the
associations between the analyzed parameters, and the results are
shown in Table 4. A statistically significant correlation is observed
among the measured parameters in the water samples. The inter-
parameter relationship supports the results obtained from PCA and
CA. EC, TDS, Salinity, Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Cl-, which were loaded
positively on PC1 (Table 3) and constituted Cluster 1 (Fig. 6a), also
showed a significant positive association in the correlation analysis. pH,
HCO−3 , and CO2− 3 loaded positively on PC2 (Table 3) and grouping
together in Cluster 2 (Fig. 6a) showed a positive correlation among them
but pH showed a significant negative correlation with Ca2+ (Table 4).
This indicates the presence of excess hydroxide ions (OH− ) in the
analyzed water samples (Pauss et al., 1990), and also we found the
alkaline nature of most of the collected water samples (Table 2). The pH
does not show any significant positive correlation with any elements.
The strong and significant correlation among the parameters indicates
Md.N. Hasan et al. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498

Table 4
Pearson’s correlation matrix for the analyzed water quality parameters.
Parameters pH EC Temp. TDS Salinity Na+ K+ Ca2+ Mg2+ Cl- F- HCO−3 CO2−
3

pH 1
EC 0.008 1
Temp. 0.181 − 0.375 1
TDS 0.009 1.000** − 0.375 1
Salinity 0.018 1.000** − 0.378 0.999** 1
Na+ 0.192 0.785** − 0.359 0.788** 0.793** 1
K+ 0.030 0.727** − 0.204 0.722** 0.726** 0.767** 1
Ca2+ − 0.745** − 0.115 − 0.033 − 0.115 − 0.119 − 0.084 − 0.009 1
Mg2+ − 0.372 0.577** − 0.241 0.568** 0.572** 0.551* 0.772** 0.463* 1
Cl- − 0.110 0.804** − 0.367 0.808** 0.804** 0.805** 0.640** 0.298 0.696** 1
F- 0.127 − 0.089 0.303 − 0.094 − 0.079 0.134 0.114 0.248 0.187 0.167 1
HCO−3 0.540* 0.630** − 0.294 0.627** 0.642** 0.709** 0.614** − 0.640** 0.194 0.310 − 0.042 1
CO2−3 0.595** 0.603** − 0.226 0.604** 0.615** 0.722** 0.602** − 0.633** 0.122 0.331 0.052 0.952** 1

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

their common sources of origin, which can be derived from geogenic
sources especially from seawater intrusion and carbonate mineral
dissolutions.
3.4. Seawater intrusive vulnerability assessment
The types of the aquifer or the occurrence of groundwater are
examined by the five bore log data of the study area collected from the
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWBD). According to GALDIT
index parameters, aquifers are of four classes and each of which has
several ratings to identify the intensity of seawater intrusion in the
groundwater. For instance, the unconfined aquifer, a medium class of
aquifer (rating 7.5), is not bounded by the impervious layer and hence
water can easily pass through it. Our study area is covered by the un­
confined aquifer. Again, the probability of intrusion of seawater is
greater for the aquifer with a large thickness (Bouwer and Rice, 1976).
Bore log data of the study area can easily explain that the thickness of
the aquifer is very high because of the unconfined aquifer of the area.
The highest and lowest thicknesses are 99 m and 79 m, respectively
which are greater than the GALDIT aquifer thickness class with higher
rating values. Thus, the aquifer becomes more vulnerable to the intru­
sion of saline water due to the larger thickness of the aquifer even
though it is away from the coast. Additionally, the extent of seawater
intrusion depends on the aquifer’s hydraulic conductivity which is
directly proportional to the transmissivity, the flow rate under a hy­
draulic gradient (Bouwer and Rice, 1976), and was measured by the
pump test data. The transmissivity data of the study area ranges from
678 to 799 m2/day (BWDB (Bangladesh Water Development Board),
2013) indicating the moderate potentiality of the groundwater. The
hydraulic conductivity of the area ranges from medium to low. A
moderate or medium hydraulic conductivity value is found in the central
Paikgachha, southern part, and southwestern part of the study area
whereas a low hydraulic conductivity value is observed in the northern
part. However, the study area covers one main tidal river, Shibsa, and
several turbidities and distributaries. Tidal river water is contaminated
by dissolved salt or carried saline water from the coast. The river in the
study area is flooded in the high tide. The area close to the tidal river is
more vulnerable than the area which is far apart from the tidal river. The

Fig. 7. Vulnerable zones identification in terms of (a) Na+ and (b) Cl- abundances in the groundwater samples in Paikgachha (Khulna, Bangladesh).

10
Md.N. Hasan et al.
Fig. 8. Maps showing the vulnerable zones identified by (a) water table above mean sea level (MSL), (b) I-parameter, and (c) GALDIT index of Paikgachha
(Khulna, Bangladesh).
northern part of the study area is far away from the tidal river and the
other part of the area is close to the riverside, particularly the central
part is connected to the tidal Shibsa river. In the northern part of the
area, the turbidities and distributaries are blocked by sediment deposit.
Based on the sodium concentrations, the study area is partitioned
into three vulnerable zones (Fig. 7a). Zone-1 covering the southeastern
and central parts of the study area (Paikgaccha Upazila) represents the
highly vulnerable area and the high rate of sodium concentration ranged
from 670.87 to 1376.10 mg L-1. The zone-2 covering the southern and
southwestern parts of the area represents the medium vulnerable zone
where sodium concentration ranged from 202.62 to 670.87 mg L-1. The
northern part of the study area (zone-3) is regarded as the low vulner­
able zone where sodium concentration ranges from 14.84 to 200 mg L-1.
Thus, we recognized 35% of the area as a highly vulnerable zone, 20%
area as a medium vulnerable zone, and 45% area as a low vulnerable
zone. Similarly, 3 zones were also identified based on chloride concen­
tration (Fig. 7b). The zone-1 (southeastern and central parts) represents
the high vulnerable zones where chloride concentration ranged from
1527.8 to 3167.6 mg L-1. Zone-2 represents medium vulnerable zones
with the chloride concentration ranged from 513.3 to 968.3 mg L-1. The
concentration of chloride in the low vulnerable zones (northern part of
the area) ranged from 18.2 to 500 mg L-1. Thus, we identified 45% of the
study area as low vulnerable, 20% area as medium vulnerable, and 35%
area as the highly vulnerable zone. Moreover, the groundwater level is
essential to describe or identify the vulnerable zones. The map (Fig. 8a)
shows the vulnerable zone which is identified by the water table above
the mean sea level (MSL) in the Paikgachha Upazila, Khulna District.
The average height of the study area is about 6 to 7 m above the MSL and
the level of the water table is below about 5 to 6 m. The MSL and water
level of the ground surface of the study area are zero or slightly positive/
negative. So, the seawater can easily intrude the freshwater aquifer. But
the northern part of the area lies about 9 to 11 m above the MSL and
hence is a less vulnerable zone depending on the height of the water
table considering the other parts of the studied area. In the dry season,
the water table falls below the MSL and so, the groundwater aquifer in
this season is more vulnerable to seawater intrusion.
Furthermore, the parameter ‘I’ incorporated in the GALDIT index is
expressed by the ratio of [Cl-]/[ HCO−3 +CO2− 3 ]. The seawater intrusion
depends on the value of ‘I’. When the value is above 2, it is considered
11
Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498
that the groundwater to be contaminated by seawater intrusion. The
[Cl-] in the ratio is the vital element and causes of seawater intrusion.
Since an increase in the value of [Cl-] is followed by a decrease of the
values of [HCO−3 +CO2− 3 ] providing a higher value of ‘I’ which in turn
increases the probability of seawater intrusion in the aquifer. The
permissible limit of [Cl-] is 600 mg L-1 for drinking purposes. The values
of [Cl-] in the groundwater of the study areas varied between 18.2 and
3167.6 mg L-1. In the northern part of the area, the value of [Cl-] in­
dicates the less or absence of seawater intrusion. Depending on the
values of [Cl-]/[HCO−3 +CO2− 3 ], the study area is identified as low, me­
dium, and highly vulnerable zones (Fig. 8b). The value of [Cl-]/
[HCO−3 +CO2− 3 ] in the southeastern and central parts is above 2, a me­
dium value is found in Soladana Union or Central Paikgachha Upazila,
and a low value was observed in the Kapilmuni, Gaduipur, and Har­
idakhali Unions (northern part). High seawater vulnerable zone is
identified in the southeastern and central parts, and low seawater
vulnerable zone is identified in the northern part of the Paikgachha
Upazila. The highest value (7.5) of [Cl-]/[HCO−3 +CO2− 3 ] is observed in
Laskar Union and the lowest value (0.06) of [Cl-]/[HCO−3 +CO2− 3 ] is
observed in the Godaipur Union.
Using equation (10), the GALDIT index has been estimated to
partition the considered area into the different zones of vulnerability.
The ranges of GALDIT index score are categorized as very low (<2.5),
low (2.5–5.5), medium (5.0–7.5), and high (7.5–10) values. Based on the
GALDIT index ranges, our studied area is classified into three vulnerable
zones (Fig. 8c) which represent low, medium, and high class. A higher
range of GALDIT values means a higher rate of vulnerability. The study
area showed that among the three vulnerable zones, zone-1 (south­
eastern and central parts) is highly vulnerable, zone-2 (southern and
southwestern parts) indicate the medium vulnerability, and zone-3
(northern part) represents the low vulnerable zone. The high salinity
or vulnerability in the southeastern and central parts of the study area is
attributed to the flow of the salt-carrying tidal river Shibsa throughout
these regions. The northern part of the area is the part of the low
vulnerable zone since it is far away from the coast and has no direct
interaction with any tidal river. The percentage of the vulnerability of
the study area is indicated by the sampling locations where 30% of the
area is highly vulnerable, 25% area is medium vulnerable, and 45% of
the study area indicates the low vulnerable zone.
Md.N. Hasan et al.
4. Conclusions
Groundwater quality and vulnerability to seawater intrusion into the
coastal aquifer of southern Bangladesh have been evaluated in terms of
several water quality parameters and geophysical characteristics.
Depending on the primary analytical data, statistical approaches, and
the subsequent indices based calculations, the outcome of this work can
be summarized as follows:
1. The groundwater is mainly NaCl-type with the dominant cation and
anion of Na+ and Cl-, respectively in most of the groundwater sam­
ples. Significant portions of the studied area possess 2 to 6-times
higher concentrations of Na+ and Cl- ions relative to the recom­
mended values.
2. In terms of entropy-based water quality appraisals, only 35% of the
sampling sites can provide good quality drinking water. Ground­
water samples from only 10% of sampling sites possess groundwater
with the moderate category which can be used for domestic, irriga­
tion, or industrial purposes instead of drinking. However, ground­
water samples from >50% of sampling sites were not allowed for
drinking. Similarly, groundwaters from >50% of sampling sites were
unsuitable for irrigation due to the high Na%.
3. Multivariate statistical analyses reveal the co-occurrence of water
quality parameters and potential seawater intrusion in the aquifer
along with the trivial evidence of carbonate mineralization.
4. The study of GALDIT index parameters revealed that the northern
part of the study area covering 45% of the total area is a low
vulnerable zone. 30% of the area covering the southeastern and
central parts of the Paikgachha municipality and consisting of high
salinity groundwater indicates the high vulnerable zone. The mod­
erate vulnerable zone covers 25% of the area which consists of the
southern and southwestern parts of the study area.
However, considering the heterogenic properties of aquifers of the
study area, more intimate, regular, and detailed groundwater investi­
gation should be carried out to explore the extent of the saline-free
aquifer in southern Bangladesh as well as the other part of the globe
with similar hydro-geological settings.
Funding
The authors received no specific funding for this research work.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Md. Nazmul Hasan: Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation.
Md. Abu Bakar Siddique: Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis,
Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review &
editing, Visualization, Supervision. A.H.M. Selim Reza: Conceptuali­
zation, Resources, Data curation, Supervision. Rahat Khan: Validation,
Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing,
Visualization. Md. Ahedul Akbor: Resources, Writing - review & edit­
ing. Iftakhar Bin Elius: Software, Visualization. Asma Binta Hasan:
Writing - review & editing. Mehedi Hasan: Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the authority of the Institute of National
Analytical Research and Service (INARS), Bangladesh Council of Sci­
entific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka, Bangladesh for
12
Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management 16 (2021) 100498
providing laboratory facilities and other logistic support during the
research work.
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