A study was conducted to evaluate the groundwater quality and health risk assessment for drinking purposes around inactive mining areas in the rural regions of Vemula-Vempalli region using the water quality index (WQI) method. For this study, forty groundwater samples were collected from bore wells and analyzed for physical parameters and major cations and anions followed by standard methods of APHA. From the analytical results, most of the groundwater samples are in alkaline nature; EC, TDS, and TH values are below the permissible limit and major cations (Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , K + , Na +) & anions (Cl − , HCO 3 , SO 4 2− , F − , NO 3 −) also within the permissible limit except fluoride and nitrate. Fluoride and nitrate in the groundwater range between 0.24-3 and 0.14-269 mg/L, respectively. Magmatic intrusions and water-rock interactions are main responsible for elevated fluoride in groundwater, and agricultural practices and usage of fertilizer are major responsible for higher nitrates in the groundwater. Piper diagram reveals that most of the samples belong to hydrochemical facies Ca 2+-Mg 2+-HCO 3 − category in this region. A higher concentration of fluoride and nitrate in the groundwater may cause a serious impact on human health. Non-carcinogenic effects of F − and NO 3 − were computed using total hazard index by adopting USEPA guidelines; THI values in drinking water range from 0.41 to 7.28 (adults), 0.41 to 7.38 (children) and 0.31 to 5.62 (infants); it reveals that children are more prone to the health impact than adults and infants. Overall assessment of WQI values (83.7-186.1 mg/L) shows that 7.5% (excellent), 80% (good), and 12.5% groundwater samples are very poor for drinking purpose in this region.
Hazardous compounds in aquifers, especially potentially toxic heavy metals, are a major environmental and socioeconomic problem around the world. Hence, the study is intense to quantify, for the first time, the pollution status and ecological risk of heavy metals around inactive mining sites in the Southwestern (SW) region of Cuddapah Basin. Ten heavy metals, including arsenic (As), cobalt (Co), cadmium (Cd), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and strontium (Sr) were investigated for a total of 50 groundwater samples of this study. The findings of the study revealed that arsenic (0-60.5 and o.56.3 µg/L), cadmium (0-28.1 and 0.31.1 µg/L), nickel (0-110.2 and 0–99 µg/L)), lead (0-175.6 and 0-92.3), Strontium (0-1150 and 0-1440 µg/L) concentrations are above the acceptable levels in both pre and post – monsoon seasons. The Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI), Heavy Metal Evolution Index (HEI) and Degree of contamination (DOC) are applied to assess hazardous metal pollution in drinking water of this area. According to HPI values 17.5 % and 10% of samples fall under high pollution index; as per the classes of HEI, 95 % and 100% of samples fall under low pollution class during the pre and post-monsoon season. According to DOC, all groundwater samples fall in a low zone. As per ecological risk classification, 90% of the samples cause extreme high ecological risk in pre & post-monsoon season in the study area.
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