Analysis of Sea Water Intrusion for a Part of Limestone Tract of Gujarat Coast, India

The present study seeks to integrate the findings from studies conducted at three different mine sites on the Saurashtra coast. The objective of the study was to examine the existing data and decipher the signature of seawater intrusion in the coastal aquifer at the sites where limestone (marly limestone) is predominantly found and being commercially mined. The R&D analysis presented in this paper makes use of the water quality data collected by different national agencies and concerned state organizations namely, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR; erstwhile Central Mining Research Institute or CMRI), National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Gujarat Water Resources Development Corporation Limited (GWRDC), Govt. of Gujarat.

The coastal aquifer of Saurashtra Coast has good permeability and transmissivity and records higher specific conductance of ground because of high salinity/alkalinity. The hydrogeological factors permit the solute transport process naturally leading to the presence of seawater intrusion (SWI). At different studied sites of this limestone tract, where limestone mining is continuing for the industrial purpose the groundwater Investigation is conducted for a decade (2006-2007 to 2016-2017) which revealed the presence of SWI and as found extremely helpful in analyzing the trend of SWI all along the Saurashtra coast.