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Spatial distribution, health risk assessment, and public perception of groundwater in Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan: a multivariate analysis

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Abstract

The current study investigated the hydrogeochemical behavior of groundwater quality attributes including arsenic (As) and their associated health risks in unexplored groundwater aquifers of Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan. The groundwater samples were collected from 40 colonies of Bahawalnagar city from electric/hand pumps, tube wells and turbines installed at varying depth (20 to > 100 m). The groundwater possessed the highest concentrations of PO4 (0.5 mg/L), HCO3 (425 mg/L), Cl (623 mg/L), NO3 (136.68 mg/L) and SO4 (749.7 mg/L) concentrations. There was no difference in concentration of As in shallow and deep aquifers. Interestingly, none of the water samples showed As concentration higher than the WHO limit of 10 µg/L for drinking water with groundwater As concentration spanning from 2.5 to 7.9 µg/L. The HQ values for As were less than 1 and there was no apparent non-carcinogenic risk from the long-term consumption of As contaminated water. The questionnaire survey indicated that 82% respondents believe that drinking water quality affects human health and 55% of respondents considered that groundwater in the area is not suitable for drinking. Survey results revealed that 29.11, 22.78, 17.08, 15.19, 7.59, 5.06 and 3.16% respondents/family members suffered from hepatitis, skin problems, diabetes, tuberculosis, kidney disorders, muscular weakness and gastro, respectively. However, the data cannot be correlated with As contamination and disease burden in the local community and it can be anticipated that the groundwater may contain other potentially toxic ions that are deteriorating the water quality and compromising human health. The hydrogeochemical analysis revealed Na-Cl/SO4, K-SO4 type of groundwater suggesting the potential role of sulfate containing minerals in releasing As in the groundwater aquifers.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the COMSATS University Islamabad under NRPU/10377.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan

    Zafar Iqbal, Ghani Rahman & Muhammad Miandad

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus, Vehari, 61100, Pakistan

    Muhammad Imran,  Natasha, Muhammad Shahid & Behzad Murtaza

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  1. Zafar Iqbal
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  2. Muhammad Imran
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  3. Natasha
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  4. Ghani Rahman
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  5. Muhammad Miandad
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  6. Muhammad Shahid
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Contributions

ZI, MI, GR Conceived the idea for this article; ZI and Natasha prepared the draft of the paper with BM and MS; MM contributed in preparing some primary parts, and MI and BM, and Natasha reviewed, edited and finalized manuscript; ZI and Natasha read the paper and assisted with the figures and formatting of the paper.

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Correspondence to Behzad Murtaza.

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Iqbal, Z., Imran, M., Natasha et al. Spatial distribution, health risk assessment, and public perception of groundwater in Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan: a multivariate analysis. Environ Geochem Health 45, 381–391 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01182-9

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