Contamination of groundwater by potentially toxic elements in groundwater and potential risk to groundwater users in the Bathinda and Faridkot districts of Punjab, India

摘要

Concentrations of uranium (U) and potentially toxic elements in groundwater and associated health risks posed to residents of Bathinda and Faridkot in the SW-Punjab, India. In Bathinda and Faridkot, average uranium contents were found to be 88 mu g L-1 and 61 mu g L-1, with 74% and 61% samples in the two areas, respectively, being above the WHO limit of 30 mu g L-1 in groundwater. Most health concern in the study area were the elevated concentrations of arsenic and mercury with average values of 176 mu g L-1 and 174 mu g L-1, respectively, in Bathinda, and 272 mu g L-1 and 79 mu g L-1, respectively, in Faridkot. An evaluation of the calculated Hazard Quotient (HQ) values indicated that HQ values in case of children for As (35.80 in Bathinda; 55.52 in Faridkot) and Hg (35.39 in Bathinda; 16.17 in Faridkot) were higher than the adults for As (27.66 in Bathinda;, 42.90 in Faridkot) and Hg (27.34 in Bathinda; 12.99 in Faridkot) and that these values were considerably higher than safe limit (HQ = 1) in the study region. This suggests that these potentially toxic elements pose significant health risks via groundwater ingestion. The investigation demonstrated the dominance of groundwater contamination by As and Hg over U with regards to cancer risks to residents of study area.