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Abstract
The colour, odour, total dissolved solids (TDS), and electrical conductivity (EC) of ground water are found to have very little variation in winter and summer season. But some samples have notable variation in colour, TDS and EC. The variation is less between seasons, but the observation prompted that colour, odour and turbidity is not in acceptable range due to residual effect of industrial discharge into river or land. Madurai urban and rural areas nearby Vaigai river basin is critically affected by discharge of effluents from textile industries, metal finishing units and small domestic units some years ago. The effluent from those industries was discharged onto water bodies, road sides, agricultural fields and open lands. Those residual effects of contaminants show the present results such as very high electrical conductivity and turbidity. The EC is beyond the admissible limit. The presence of ions is responsible for the effect. The geothermal change also occurs in the ground water sources.