School Of Environment And Earth Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Mittal, SunilSubject: search.filters.subject.Health risk

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    Co-occurrence of geogenic uranium and fluoride in a semiarid belt of the Punjab plains, India
    (Elsevier B.V., 2023-10-05T00:00:00) Chaudhari, Umakant; Mehta, Madhu; Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Mittal, Sunil; Tiwari, Raghavendra P.
    The inordinate presence of uranium (U) and fluoride (F?) in shallow aquifers of arid/semi-arid regions in northern India has raised a serious health concern; the Muktsar district of Punjab is one such example. In the present study, a total of 38 groundwater samples (17 from <100 ft (very shallow; VSL), 21 from >100 to 180 ft (shallow; SL)) were collected from this district to understand the current health risk associated with U and F? and the major factors/processes influencing these contaminants. Groundwater in the study area is mostly alkaline and oxic in nature. The concentration of U ranged from 18.5 ?g/L to 456 ?g/L exceeding the WHO permissible limit (>30 ?g/L) in 93 and 100% samples from VSL and SL respectively, while F? concentration (ranged from 0.3 to 14.4 mg/L) above the limit (>1.5 mg/L) were found in 75 and 57% samples from VSL and SL respectively. As per the depth-wise distribution of U and F?, there is no significant difference between VSL and SL samples, with a few exceptions. Spearman rank correlation (?) shows a significant positive correlation (p-value < 0.05) between U and F? (? = 0.5), and U with total dissolved solid (TDS) (? = 0.5), salinity (? = 0.6), and bicarbonate (HCO3?) (? = 0.7) and a positive association of F? with TDS (? = 0.3), salinity (? = 0.3), and HCO3? (? = 0.3), indicating these parameters are responsible for the co-occurrence of U and F?. Moreover, this geochemical signature is attributed to their geogenic origin. Uranium speciation data show that UO2(CO3)22? and UO2(CO3)34? are dominant species, while F? predominantly occurs as F? species. The regions with high concentration of U and F? in groundwater primarily have mixed type species (Na�HCO3 and NaCl type). Geochemical modelling revealed that the precipitation of calcite, dolomite, and aragonite is favourable for mobility of F? in groundwater. The hazard quotient (HQ) of F? for adults and children exceeds 1 in 57.8% and 65.7% of samples, respectively, while in case of U, 94.7% and 100% samples exceed 1, respectively, indicating the latter is having greater health impact on local people. The current data indicated an urgent demand to develop low-cost and effective remedial techniques to manage groundwater contamination in this region. � 2023
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    Source apportionment, chemometric pattern recognition and health risk assessment of groundwater from southwestern Punjab, India
    (Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2020-02-06T00:00:00) Kumar, Ravishankar; Mittal, Sunil; Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Sahoo, Sunil Kumar
    The groundwater quality of southwestern Punjab, India, is a serious cause of concern due to the presence of chemical contaminants in it. However, limited studies of groundwater quality, sources of chemical contaminants and their health risks are available for the region. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the source, distribution and potential health risk assessment of groundwater quality in three districts of southwestern Punjab, India. The spatial distribution of groundwater chemical contaminants and their potential health risks have been illustrated using inverse distance weighting interpolation technique. The concentration of fluoride (F?; ranged from 0.08 to 4.79�mg�L?1) exceeded the WHO limit (1.5��g�L?1) in 80 and 50% samples collected from Bathinda and Ludhiana districts, respectively. The uranium (U) concentration ranged from 0.5 to 432��g�L?1 and shows ~ 85%, 75% and 10% of samples collected from Bathinda, Barnala and Ludhiana districts exceeded the WHO drinking water limit (30��g�L?1), respectively. The groundwater quality of the Bathinda district is a matter of concern due to elevated levels of alkalinity, hardness, fluoride, uranium and nitrate (NO3?). The principal component analysis shows close association between F? and U, which indicates their geogenic origin. Further, they also seem to be subordinately influenced by diffuse anthropogenic activities. The clustering of Cu and Pb with NO3? and SO42? indicates their anthropogenic origin. The non-carcinogenic health risk assessment indicates that F?, NO3? and U are the major health risk pollutants in the study area. The carcinogenic health risk of As and Cr exceeded the USEPA limits (10?6) in the entire study area, but observed to be more serious for the district Bathinda (10?3�10?5). The spatial distribution maps illustrate that the health risk for Bathinda district inhabitants is higher than Barnala and Ludhiana districts. � 2020, Springer Nature B.V.