Abstract

The study area is situated in the upper Kodaganar river basin, Tamilnadu, India. There are about 80 functional tanneries. The untreated effluents from these tanneries have considerably affected the quality of groundwater. In order to assess the extent of groundwater deterioration (quality), hydrogeological, geophysical and hydrochemical studies were carried out. 37 Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) and two electrical imagings were collected, and have been interpreted. The VESresults obtained from interpretation coupled with electrical imaging as well as hydrochemical analysis of water samples collected from nearby exiting dug wells has provided valuable clues regarding the extent of pollution. The utilization of the resistivity survey data to selectively locate the monitor wells, to obtain an empirical relationship between the earth resistivity and amount of electrical conductivity (EC) in the groundwater inferred the lateral extent of the groundwater pollution due to untreated tannery effluents