Physico-Chemical Analysis and Correlation Study of Water Resources of the Sukinda Chromite Mining Area,Odisha, India

The Sukinda Valley of the Jajpur district of Odisha produces 98 % of India’s chromite ore. The region’s groundwater and Damsal Nala, the valley’s primary stream, have been contaminated by Cr(VI) due to surface runoff and leachates from overburden dumps. Samples of mine water, surface water, and groundwater were analyzed. The concentration of total Cr in the mine water ranged from 0.46 to 1.26 mg/L before treatment and between 0.03 and 0.45 mg/L after treatment. Effluent Cr(VI) ranged between 0.02 and 0.3 mg/L. Thus, discharge water at some mine sites still contain Cr(VI) at concentrations above the permissible effluent limits of 0.1 mg/L for inland surface water. Concentrations of Cr(VI) ranged from 0.02 to 0.23 mg/L in the Damsal Nala and nil to 0.13 mg/L in tube well water, sometimes exceeding the permissible limits, but were acceptable in dug wells. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed that Cr(VI) positively correlated with sulfate (0.854) in surface water, hardness (0.379) and pH (0.361) in groundwater, and total Cr (0.970) in mine water.