Water quality assessment in the tsunami-affected coastal areas of Chennai

The earthquake of magnitude 9 that occurred off the coast of Sumatra on 26 December 2004 (at 00:58:50 (UTC)/06:28:50 a.m. (IST) with its epicentre at 3.29 degree N and 95.94 degree E on the shallow depths of the seabed), caused a tsunami that traveled from Indonesia to the Indian coast. In Chennai, besides sea-water intrusion and deaths of numerous people, the impact also included morphological changes along the coastline, where sea intruded in certain places and receded in others. In Adyar, the mouth of the river creek cut-off from the sea due to sandbar formation was cleared by big waves1. The water quality of the area is suspected to be affected due to increase in salinity and total dissolved solids along the tsunami-affected coast. In this connection, the present study was carried out in the tsunami-affected areas with respect to groundwater quality in the coastal areas of Adyar. The study area included Adyar and the surrounding areas in south Chennai that lie between latitudes 12 degree 58N and 13 degree 08N, and longitudes 80 degree 16E and 80 degree 28E.