GROUNDWATER POLLUTION DUE TO DISCHARGE OF INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS IN VENKATAPURAM AREA, VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA-PRADESH, INDIA

Hindustan Polymers Limited was established in the Venkatapuram area in the northwestern part of Visakhapatnam urban agglomeration. Untreated industrial effluent from the plant is dis charged with total dissolve d solids concentrations reaching up to 6500 mg/l. The groundwater poll ution was identified as early as 1981 and a hydrogeologic and water-qu ality database is available from 1981. The groundwater quality in the plant environs is found to be in the range of 3500-4500 mg/l. Major ch emical constituents of industrial-waste waters consist of Na, Cl, and SO4. Some characteristic parameters of the aquifer were estimated. The available hydrogeologic and hydro logic data was analyzed to conceptu alize the groundwater regime. A mathematical groundwater flow model wa s constructed to compute the hydraulic head at the center of finite-di fference grid. The computed head distribution and effective porosity o f the formations were used to calculate the groundwater flow velocity. The computed velocity field was ultimately used to prognose the pollu tant migration in groundwater accounting for the advection and dispers ion processes in the mass transport model and for determining the time -dependent pathlines of pollutant. Areal migration of pollutants from the source was predicted up to year 2002.