Journal Article

Groundwater quality enumeration and health risk in the extended part of Chhotanagpur granite gneiss complex of India

Modak, Partha, Mandi, Susanta, Dhak, Debasis, Mukherjee, Arnab, Senapati, Tarakeshwar, Ghosh, Biswajit, Mandal, Mrinal, Panda, Bholanath

2024

Overview

The majority of people on the earth bank largely on groundwater to quench their thirst. In the era of rapid population growth, the over-exploitation of groundwater gives rise to water scarcity, and people find themselves in distress to manage safe drinking water. In this backdrop, the present study is carried out in the terrain of Pre-Cambrian igneous and high- to low-graded metamorphic rocks, to assess the groundwater potential zones (GWPZs) and evaluation of groundwater quality. The map of GWPZ is produced employing the multi-criteria decision-making model and geospatial technology. It unveils that around 29% area of the watershed enjoys good GWPZ, whereas around 43% area experiences low GWPZ. The overall accuracy of the simulated model is 92%. The water quality index indicates that 68% of water samples belong to excellent to good water quality. A significant proportion of water samples (24%) are found to be unsuitable for drinking, which may be due to groundwater contamination by the process of leaching of mineral-rich weathered rocks. The presence of fluoride (F − ) beyond the maximum permissible limit (1.5 mg L − 1 ) of WHO is recorded among 18% samples of the watershed, where 24,963 souls including 3457 children aged between 0 and 6 years lived and might have ingested F − through drinking water. Hence, the health risk of those people is quite high. Children are at a more non-carcinogenic health risk of F − than adults. The study also confirms no statistically significant difference ( p ˃ 0.05) is observed between low and high GWPZ with respect to groundwater quality. The study recommends adopting a sustainable outlook to explore GWPZ, and an assessment of drinking water quality must be done before drinking.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Aquatic Pollution / Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution / Cambrian / Carcinogens / Children / Contamination / Decision making / distress / Drinking water / Drinking Water - chemistry / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / Enumeration / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Environmental Monitoring / fluorides / geospatial technology / Gneiss / granite / Groundwater / Groundwater - chemistry / groundwater contamination / Groundwater pollution / Groundwater potential / Groundwater quality / Health risk assessment / Health risks / Humans / India / landscapes / Leaching / Metamorphic rocks / multi-criteria decision making / Multiple criterion / people / Population growth / Resilient and Sustainable Water Management in Agriculture / risk / Risk Assessment / Statistical analysis / Thirst / Waste Water Technology / Water analysis / Water Management / Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis / Water Pollution Control / Water Quality / Water sampling / Water scarcity / water shortages / Water Supply / Watersheds