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Brief status of contamination in surface water of rivers of India by heavy metals: a review with pollution indices and health risk assessment

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Abstract

Water is polluted via various means; among these, heavy metal (HM) contamination is of great concern because of the involvement of metal toxicity and its effect on aquatic environment. The significance and novelty of this study is that it focuses on assessment of HMs in the surface water of Indian rivers only from 1991 to 2021. For this, multivariate studies were used to find multiple sources of HMs. The average concentrations of Fe, Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, Mn, Hg, Co, and As in surface water of rivers were found to far exceed the permitted limits established by both World Health Organisation and Bureau of Indian Standards. The HM indices like HM pollution, degree of contamination, evaluation index, water pollution, and toxicity load data all indicated that the rivers under investigation are heavily polluted by HMs. In this study, health risk assessment indicated non-carcinogenic effects of Fe, Cr, Cu, Pb, Cd, Mn, Hg, Co, and As in children and those of Fe, Cr, Pb, Cd, Hg, Co, and As in adults. Values investigated for Cancer index were higher for Cr, Pb, Ni, Cd, and As indicating a high risk of cancer development in adults and children via the ingestion pathway than the cutaneous pathway. Moreover, children are more prone to be exposed to both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects of HMs than adults. To reduce human dangers, remediation approaches, such as environment-friendly, cost-effective adsorbents, phytoremediation and bio-remediation, as well as tools like bio-sensors, should be included in river management plans.

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Data availability

The datasets used in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Aditi Chettiar for proofreading the manuscript. This research did not receive any specific Grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Department of Environmental Science, The Institute of Science, Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, Mumbai, 400032, India

    Akshay Botle, Sayli Salgaonkar & Gayatri R. Barabde

  2. Department of Analytical Chemistry, The Institute of Science, Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, Mumbai, 400032, India

    Shushama Ambadekar & Gayatri R. Barabde

  3. CSIR-National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur, 440020, India

    Rahul Tiwari

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AB was involved in concept formation, data collection, data analysis, and first draft writing. SS helped in data collection, data investigation, editing, and manuscript paraphrasing. RT contributed to examination and thorough analysis of manuscript data. SA & GB approved final versions of the manuscript.

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Botle, A., Salgaonkar, S., Tiwari, R. et al. Brief status of contamination in surface water of rivers of India by heavy metals: a review with pollution indices and health risk assessment. Environ Geochem Health 45, 2779–2801 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-022-01463-x

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