District groundwater brochure: Nagapattinam district, Tamil Nadu
The hydrogeological environment in the Nagapattinam district has been subjected to pollution considerably. The eastern part of the district being tail end of the canal system, and due to inferior quality of ground water, the agricultural prosperity in the eastern part attained a set back. The agricultural lands are brought under aquaculture use. The mushrooming and unregulated growth of aquaculture may lead to an alarming magnitude of pollution. In the eastern part of the district near the coast, a ground water is saline. The fresh water pocket in the sand dune areas are used for drinking purposes. The discharge of untreated wastewaters of aquaculture farms and chemicals used for the growing prawns will also affect the shallow fresh water pockets.