Abstract
Water samples from 218 different sources such as hand pumps, donkey type pumps, tubewells and open wells were collected at random in and around Faisalabad city to determine the concentration of calcium, sodium and potassium to evaluatc their suitability as drinking water. Calcium content was 53 ± 25.4, magnesium 71 ± 37.9, sodium 660 ± 430 and potassium 23 ± 21.9 mg r'. Noorpur, Behari Colony, Gukhuwal, Kalccm Shahecd Colony, outer areas of Ghulam Muhammad Abad, Maqbool Road, Samunabad and D-type Colony were found to have higher amounts of these cations whereas a small belt along Rukh Branch Canal from RD 250,000 to RD 263,000 and Civil Line areas were found to have lower concentration of these metal ions. Sodium was the major cation making the Faisalabad groundwater undesirable for drinking whereas calcium content was the least.
