Abstract
The contaminated ground water has now evolved to be a real threat for
the public as well as the agricultural growth. Many minerals present in
the ground water that needs to be constantly monitored and in case of
any discrepancy with the minerals’ levels immediate remedial measures
become necessary to make it safe to drink as well as to be used for the
agricultural purposes. This study assesses the nine physiochemical
parameters of drinking water quality of Lahore city. Three thousand,
nine hundred and eighteen drinking water samples were randomly collected
from the study area. These samples were physio-chemically analyzed for
nine key toxic (in excess) elements such as Depth, Electric
conductivity, Calcium-Magnesium, Sodium, Carbonates, Bi-Carbonates,
Chlorine, Sodium adsorption ratio and Residual sodium carbonate.
Geostatistical techniques such as variogram and kriging were used to
investigate the spatial variations of these minerals across the city.
Four variogram models were evaluated and most appropriate models were
applied for each water quality parameter. The kriging predictions
revealed significant concentrations of the above-stated elements at some
locations in the study area. While comparing with the World Health
Organization, United States Environmental Protection Agency, and
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency standards, the water samples
were found to be unsatisfactory for drinking in Lahore City. We conclude
that the drinking water in this region is of poor quality and needs
proper treatment to make it palatable.