International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 27: 121-124, 2001
© International Scientific Publications, New Delhi

Assessment of Sea Water Intrusion Around the Vaippar River Estuary of Tamil Nadu, India

N. Jawahar Raj and K. Kumaraswamy


ABSTRACT

The problem of sea water intrusion into the freshwater aquifers of the areas around the Vaippar River estuary in Tamil Nadu has been studied with the help of geophysical survey and hydrochemical analysis. The geophysical survey reveals that in the study area, sea water is found at least to a depth of 100 m up to which the survey was conducted. The saline water occupies more areas with increasing depths indicating the possibility of encountering saline water at still greater depths. The total dissolved solids concentration and chloride-bicarbonate ratios reveal that groundwater is severely contaminated by sea water intrusion up to 10 km. inland from the coast. Further, the hydrochemical data plotted on Durov’s diagram confirms the contamination of ground-water in the area by sodium chloride ions, which is due to the intrusion of sea water into the freshwater aquifers of the area.

Key Words: Sea water intrusion, Vaippar estuary, Resistivity survey, Total dissolved solids, Chloride bicarbonate ratio, Durov’s method.