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Geostatistical appraisal of water quality, contamination, source distribution of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the lower stretches of Subarnarekha River (Odisha), India, and health risk assessment by Monte Carlo simulation approach

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Abstract

In the present study, the status of water quality, environmental contamination in the lower stretch of Subarnarekha River with respect to potentially toxic elements (PTEs), its seasonal distribution, and ecotoxicological health impacts were investigated. For this purpose, a combination of indexing approaches and geospatial methods was used. The estimated water quality index (WQI) has shown that the river water falls under “moderate to very poor” category during the pre-monsoon and “moderate to poor” category in the post-monsoon season. The abundance of PTEs (Pb, Cu, Ni, Cd, Fe, and Cr) was on the higher side during the pre-monsoon in comparison with the post-monsoon season. The results of contamination index (Cd) and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI) explain that Subarnarekha River has low-to-moderate levels of contamination with PTEs in the majority of sampling sites. However, HPI indicated that the river water is moderate-to-highly contaminated with PTEs in both seasons. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) reveal that anthropogenic sources are prime contributors to PTEs contamination in Subarnarekha River. The potential non-cancerous health concerns for child and adults due to Cr and Pb in some sampling stations along the river stretch have been observed. The carcinogenic risk (CR) has been established for Cr, Pb, and Cd in Subarnarekha River with Cr (> 10–4) as the most unsafe element. Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) indicates a high risk of cancer hazards due to Cr (values > 1E-04) in present as well as future for both child and adults.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Amity University Kolkata, The University of Burdwan, and Asansol Engineering College to provide facilities and infrastructure to conduct this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Anup Kumar Pradhan

  2. Department of Environmental Science, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, India

    Manash Gope, Sucharita Saha & Srimanta Gupta

  3. Department of Chemistry, Asansol Engineering College, Asansol, West Bengal, India

    Krishnendu Kumar Pobi

  4. Department of Chemistry, Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Rama Ranjan Bhattacharjee

  5. Amity Institute of Environmental Sciences, Amity University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Sumanta Nayek

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Contributions

Anup Pradhan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing - original draft preparation. Manash Gope: Software, Formal analysis, Reviewing and Editing Krishnendu Kumar Pobi: Methodology, Formal analysis, Software, Investigation, Writing - original draft preparation. Sucharita Saha Srimanta Gupta: Application of GIS Software, Formal Analysis, Data interpretation & representation Srimanta Gupta: Application of GIS Software, Formal Analysis, Data interpretation & representation, Reviewing and Editing Rama Ranjan Bhattacharjee: Software, Formal analysis. Reviewing and Editing Sumanta Nayek: Supervision, Visualization, Investigation, Validation, Reviewing and Editing

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Correspondence to Sumanta Nayek.

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Pradhan, A.K., Gope, M., Pobi, K.K. et al. Geostatistical appraisal of water quality, contamination, source distribution of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in the lower stretches of Subarnarekha River (Odisha), India, and health risk assessment by Monte Carlo simulation approach. Environ Geochem Health 46, 42 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01815-1

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