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Hydrogeochemical assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of potentially toxic elements in aquifers of the Hindukush ranges, Pakistan: insights from groundwater pollution indexing, GIS-based, and multivariate statistical approaches

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Abstract

Globally, potentially toxic elements (PTEs) and bacterial contamination pose health hazards, persistency, and genotoxicity in the groundwater aquifer. This study evaluates PTE concentration, carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic health hazards, groundwater quality indexing (GWQI-model), source provenance, and fate distribution in the groundwater of Hindukush ranges, Pakistan. The new estimates of USEPA equations record new research dimensions for carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic hazards. The principal component analysis (PCA), mineral phases, and spatial distribution determine groundwater contamination and its impacts. The average concentrations of PTEs, viz., Cd, Cu, Co, Fe, Pb, and Zn, were 0.06, 0.27, 0.07, 0.55, 0.05, and 0.19 mg/L, and E. coli, F. coli, and P. coli were 27.5, 24.0, and 19.0 CFU/100 ml. Moreover, the average values of basic minerals, viz., anhydrite, aragonite, calcite, dolomite, gypsum, halite, and hydroxyl apatite, were 0.4, 2.4, 2.6, 5.1, 0.6, and − 4.0, 11.2, and PTE minerals like monteponite, tenorite, cuprite, cuprous ferrite, cupric ferrite, ferrihydrite, goethite, hematite, lepidocrocite, maghemite, magnetite, massicot, minium, litharge, plattnerite, and zincite were − 5.5, 2.23, 4.65, 18.56, 20.0, 4.84, 7.54, 17.46, 6.66, 9.67, 22.72, − 3.36, 22.9, 3.16, − 18.0, and 1.46. The groundwater showed carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health hazards for children and adults. The GWQI-model showed that 58.3% of samples revealed worse water quality. PCA revealed rock weathering, mineral dissolution, water–rock interaction, and industrial effluents as the dominant factors influencing groundwater chemistry. Carbonate weathering and ion exchange play vital roles in altering CaHCO3 type to NaHCO3 water. In this study, E. coli, F. coli, P. coli, EC, turbidity, TSS, PO43─, Na+, Mg+2, Ca+2, Cd, Co, Fe, and Pb have exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic impacts of PTEs and bacterial contamination declared that the groundwater is unfit for drinking and domestic purposes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all research staff that contributed to the data collection required for this study.

Funding

This research work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 41521001, and 41877204), the 111 Program (State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs & Ministry of Education of China, B18049), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation 2018M642944. This research work was also financially supported by the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSP-2021/19), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Abdur Rashid, Zahid Ullah, Xubo Gao & Chengcheng Li

  2. National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25130, Pakistan

    Abdur Rashid & Liaqat Ali

  3. Department of Botany, Hazara University, PO 21300, Mansehra, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ayub

  4. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, PO 25120, Pakistan

    Sardar Khan

  5. Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, l1451, Saudi Arabia

    Hamed A. El-Serehy

  6. Instituto de Conservación Y Mejora de La Agrodiversidad Valenciana, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Prashant Kaushik

  7. Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad (CUI), Vehari, 61100, Pakistan

    Atta Rasool

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  1. Abdur Rashid
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Contributions

Abdur Rashid, conceptualization, methodology, and writing original draft; Muhammad Ayub and Dr. Sardar Khan, field sampling and design lab protocol; Chengcheng Li, software analysis and validation; Zahid Ullah, Liaqat Ali, and Atta Rasool perform experimental work and software validation; Xubo Gao, Hamad A. El-Serehy, and Prashant Kaushik, writing — review and editing, funding acquisition, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Abdur Rashid.

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Rashid, A., Ayub, M., Khan, S. et al. Hydrogeochemical assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of potentially toxic elements in aquifers of the Hindukush ranges, Pakistan: insights from groundwater pollution indexing, GIS-based, and multivariate statistical approaches. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 75744–75768 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21172-3

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