Abstract The groundwater is widely used for irrigation of rice crops. The overuse of groundwater causes depletion of the water quality (i.e. enormous increase in conductivity, hardness and ion and metal contents, etc.) in several regions of the country and world. In this work, the quality of the groundwater in the densestrice cropping area, Saraipali, Chhattisgarh, Central India is discussed. The water is sodic in nature with extremely high electrical conductivity. The mean concentration (n = 15, 56 ± 9, 19 ± 4, 206 ± 25, 9.2 ± 2.3, 39 ± 6, 114 ± 19 and 1.7 ± 0.6 mg/L, respectively. The sources of the contaminants are apportioned by using the factor analysis model. The suitability of the groundwater for the drinking and irrigation purposes is assessed
