Groundwater Use for Washing Vehicles: A Study from Shrigonda Town, India | Chapter 5 | Current Research on Geography, Earth Science and Environment Vol. 2

The rapid growth of urbanisation leads to an increased demand for new vehicles. With the increasing number of new vehicles, the number of vehicle washing centres has also increased accordingly. Most of these washing centres use groundwater as their source of water. As a result, the groundwater level is decreasing, leading to a groundwater shortage. The washing centres are generating vast amounts of wastewater and discharging harmful pollutants into surface water, which degrades both surface water quality and groundwater quality. Therefore, the study estimates the volume of water and physicochemical properties of wastewater generated from washing vehicles at 13 vehicle washing centres during both the dry and wet seasons. The data were analysed using the student t-test and one-way ANOVA to assess seasonal variation in water use for washing vehicles, as determined by SPSS software. During the study, 762 and 982 vehicles were observed in the dry and wet seasons, respectively. The results revealed that in the dry season, the mean water used for washing motorbikes was 95.83 L, cars (219.62 L), light motor vehicles (235.64 L), and heavy transport vehicles (300.79 L).

 

On the other hand, during the wet season, the mean water volume used to wash motorbikes was (128.28), cars (258.79, light motor vehicles (290.89), and heavy transport vehicles (415.40). During the dry season, 102301 litres per day, and in the wet season, 168114 litres per day of groundwater were used at the vehicle washing centres in Shrigonda town and discharged wastewater into the sewer system. The physicochemical property results indicate a higher concentration of harmful contaminants, including total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), oil and grease, and turbidity.

 

Author(s) Details

Bapu D. Deokar
Department of Geography, Maharaja Jivajirao Shinde Mahavidyalaya, Shrigonda Ahilyanagar, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, MS, India.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/crgese/v2/5840