A hydrogeochmical survey was carried out in English Bazar block, Malda district, West Bengal, to assess the quality of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes. Integrating GIS into such a methodology can provide more refined spatial analyses, and more accurate water quality reporting. 42 groundwater samples from tube wells were collected and analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, major cations, major anions and heavy metals. The study area is occupied by Quaternary formations. Groundwater occurs in an unconfined condition in the alluvial sediments. Use of groundwater from the area covered by Recent Alluvium and Older Alluvium may lead to high and medium salinity hazards, respectively. According to the water quality index (WQI), water quality is classified as: good, poor, very poor and unsuitable for drinking. The last two types of groundwaters contain high concentrations of heavy metals (such as Cu, Cd, Mn, Fe, and Cr and As). Anthropogenic activities are the possible sources of heavy metals. In general, the water quality in the study area is found to be poor.

The shortage of freshwater has become a crucial problem in many countries. This is accompanied by various anthropogenic and other sources of pollution, especially for near-surface aquifers (Castany, 1968; UNESCO, 1980; and USEPA, 1990). Deep groundwater, mostly in confined aquifers, in many arid and semi-arid areas, is less exposed to surface pollution (Ambroggi, 1966; and Castany, 1967). However, hydrological data in such aquifer-hosted basins are generally scarce, and exploitation is expensive compared with that of shallow groundwater (Lamouroux and Azzedine, 2006). Contamination of drinking water is a major issue in the developing countries like India.

The demand for drinking water is about 34 million liters per day (mld) in the English Bazar Block, Malda district, West Bengal. Groundwater is being extensively used for drinking and agricultural purposes. The objective of the present study is, thus, to understand the suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes and to map the spatial distribution of overall quality of groundwater using Geographical Information System (GIS) as a tool.

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