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Human health risk assessment via drinking water pathway due to metal contamination in the groundwater of Subarnarekha River Basin, India

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Abstract

Groundwater samples were collected from 30 sampling sites throughout the Subarnarekha River Basin for source apportionment and risk assessment studies. The concentrations of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Se, Sr, V and Zn were determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results demonstrated that concentrations of the metals showed significant spatial variation with some of the metals like As, Mn, Fe, Cu and Se exceeding the drinking water standards at some locations. Principal component analysis (PCA) outcome of four factors that together explained 84.99 % of the variance with >1 initial eigenvalue indicated that both innate and anthropogenic activities are contributing factors as source of metal in groundwater of Subarnarekha River Basin. Risk of metals on human health was then evaluated using hazard quotients (HQ) and cancer risk by ingestion for adult and child, and it was indicated that Mn was the most important pollutant leading to non-carcinogenic concerns. The carcinogenic risk of As for adult and child was within the acceptable cancer risk value of 1 × 10−4. The largest contributors to chronic risks were Mn, Co and As. Considering the geometric mean concentration of metals, the hazard index (HI) for adult was above unity. Considering all the locations, the HI varied from 0.18 to 11.34 and 0.15 to 9.71 for adult and child, respectively, suggesting that the metals posed hazard by oral intake considering the drinking water pathway.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for providing the necessary funding for the study under the Fast Track Young Scientist Scheme (Grant No. SR/FTP/ES-185/2010 (G)). Also, authors are thankful to the Director and Geo-Environment Division (EMG), Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad for providing the necessary laboratory facilities and other logistic support for the study.

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  1. Geo-Environmental Division (EMG), Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, 826015, India

    Soma Giri & Abhay Kumar Singh

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Giri, S., Singh, A.K. Human health risk assessment via drinking water pathway due to metal contamination in the groundwater of Subarnarekha River Basin, India. Environ Monit Assess 187, 63 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4265-4

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