Arsenic in groundwater and its potential health risk in a fast growing urban agglomeration of Chota Nagpur Plateau, India

摘要

Groundwater samples from 44 locations of Ranchi urban agglomeration, a fast growing urban center in Chotanagpur plateau of eastern India were collected to assess the drinking water quality with respect to arsenic and trace metals important from public health point of view. The results show that arsenic (As) concentration ranged from bdl - 200 μg/L and bdl - 150 μg/L in monsoon and pre-monsoon season respectively, but mostly below detection limit during post-monsoon season, showed Arsenic concentration were above the WHO drinking water guideline as well as the BIS acceptable limit of 10 μg/L (WHO/BIS), in 84% of the wells sampled during the monsoon season. Arsenic did not show strong correlation with any of the physico-chemical parameters. Principal component analysis showed water quality is dominated by dissolved solids and suggest similar origin for most of the parameters. Health risk assessment signifies the probability of the non-carcinogenic effect due to the presence of arsenic and selenium as compared to carcinogenic effect is more for the residents of the study area.