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Occurrence of toxic elements in river areas along drains and groundwater resources: source of contamination and associated health risk

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Abstract

The objective of the current research was to examine the water quality of the River Ravi and the River Sutlej, with a specific focus on potentially toxic elements (PTEs). Additionally, we sought to monitor the sources of pollution in these rivers by gathering samples from the primary drains that carry industrial and municipal waste into these water bodies. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate the impact of PTEs in surface water on groundwater quality by collecting groundwater samples from nearby populated areas. A total of 30 samples were collected from these three sources: rivers (6 samples), drains (9 samples), and groundwater (15 samples). The analysis revealed that the levels of PTEs in the samples from these three resources having a mean value: arsenic (As) 23.5 µg/L, zinc (Zn) 2.35 mg/L, manganese (Mn) 0.51 mg/L, lead (Pb) 6.63 µg/L, and chromium (Cr) 10.9 µg/L, exceeded the recommended values set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Furthermore, PTEs including (As 84%), (Zn 65%), (Mn 69%), (Pb 53%), (Cr 53%), and (Ni 27%), samples were beyond the recommended values of WHO. The results of the Principal Component Analysis indicated that surface water and groundwater exhibited total variability of 83.87% and 85.97%, respectively. This indicates that the aquifers in the study area have been contaminated due to both natural geogenic factors and anthropogenic sources. These sources include the discharge of industrial effluents, wastewater from municipal sources, mining activities, agricultural practices, weathering of rocks, and interactions between rocks and water. Spatial distribution maps clearly illustrated the widespread mobilization of PTEs throughout the study area. Furthermore, a health risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the potential adverse health effects of PTEs through the ingestion of drinking groundwater by both children and adults. Health risk assessment result show the mean carcinogenic values for As, Cr, Pb and Ni in children are calculated to be (1.88E-04), (2.61E-04), (2.16E-02), and (5.74E-05), respectively. Similarly, the mean carcinogenic values for the above mentioned PTEs in adults were recorded to be (2.39E-05), (3.32E-05), (1.19E-03), and (7.29E-06) respectively. The total hazard index values for As, Zn, Cr, Pb, Mn, Cu, and Ni in children were observed to be (9.07E + 00), (9.95E-07), (4.59E-04), (5.75E-04), (4.72E-05), (2.78E-03), and (5.27E-05) respectively. The analysis revealed that As has an adverse effect on the population of the study area as compared to other PTEs investigated in this study.

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Funding

This work was jointly supported by the Fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2023M742083] and the Qingdao Postdoctoral Research Supporting Project [QDBSH20230202002] awarded to Dr. Muhammad Fahad Sardar. The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Researchers supporting project number (RSP2024R469), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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  1. Zahid Ullah, Fazila Younas and Muhammad Fahad Sardar these authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Zahid Ullah & Abdur Rashid

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Fazila Younas

  3. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pol- Lution Prevention and Control, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, People’s Republic of China

    Aziz Ur Rahim Bacha

  4. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, 11495, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Wedad A. Al-onazi

  5. Key Laboratory of Ecological Prewarning, Protection and Restoration of Bohai Sea, Ministry of Natural Resources, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Muhammad Fahad Sardar

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  1. Zahid Ullah
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Contributions

Zahid Ullah and Fazila Younas: Conceptualization, methodology, analysis, writing—original draft, AzizUrRahim Bacha: Field Sampling, Abdur Rashid: Review and editing, Wedad A. Al-onazi and Muhammad Fahad Sardar: Conceptualization, project administration, review and editing, and funding acquisition. All authors have read and agreed to their specific contribution.

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Ullah, Z., Younas, F., Bacha, A. et al. Occurrence of toxic elements in river areas along drains and groundwater resources: source of contamination and associated health risk. Environ Monit Assess 196, 480 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-12648-5

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