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PAHs contamination in groundwater from a part of metropolitan city, India: a study based on sampling over a 10-year period

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Abstract

Presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the soil and water is of serious environmental concern as they are carcinogenic in nature. The present study was carried out with an aim to identify the presence of PAHs in groundwater of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. This is an industrialised area where petrochemical storage tanks are located. Groundwater sampling was carried out in the years 2001, 2011 and 2012 to understand the variation in PAHs content in this area. Concentration of major ions, pH and EC were measured during the year 2001. Of the 24 groundwater samples collected in the year 2001, most of them were alkaline and 62.5 % were not permissible for drinking based on pH and EC, respectively. Influence of seawater was the major reason for the Na–Cl dominant nature of groundwater. TPH and PAHs analysis of groundwater carried out in 2001 and 2011, and physical examination of groundwater in 2012 indicate the increased level of contamination in the eastern part of the study area. The contamination in the eastern part persists because of the fact that groundwater is flowing towards the east and also due to the presence of petrochemical storage tanks near the coast. Thus this area is affected by PAHs pollution which has endured over the past 50 years. An underground storage tank that was functioning in this area was closed about 50 years ago and leakage of PAHs from this tank was reported in the year 1993. However, the present study indicates the decrease in the area of zone of pollution, possibly due to natural flushing of groundwater zone.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology’s Funds for Improvement in Science and Technology scheme (grant no. SR/FST/ESI-106/2010), University Grants Commission’s Special Assistance Programme [grant no. UGC DRS II F.550/10/DRS/2007(SAP-1)] and University Grants Commission’s Centre with Potential for Excellence in Environmental Science [grant no. F.No.1-9/2002 (NS/PE)] for their financial support which helped in creating facilities to carry out this work. The second author wishes to thank Dr. Prabhakar Clement, Department of Civil engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, USA, who motivated him to take up this work initially and Dr. Hannes Neugebauer, Hydrogeologist, DB Netz AG, Regionalbereich Süd, Munich, Germany, for his suggestions. The authors also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which helped in improving the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025, India

    K. Brindha & L. Elango

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  1. K. Brindha
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  2. L. Elango
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Correspondence to L. Elango.

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Brindha, K., Elango, L. PAHs contamination in groundwater from a part of metropolitan city, India: a study based on sampling over a 10-year period. Environ Earth Sci 71, 5113–5120 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2914-x

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