Hydrogeochemical analysis and geospatial modeling for delineation of groundwater pollution and human health risks assessment of Cuttack district, India

Abstract

In this study, the spatial distribution of fluoride, uranium, and associated water quality parameters in the drinking water of the Cuttack district, Odisha, India, has been analyzed. A total of 104 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed. The experimental data were analyzed by statistical techniques and the universal inverse distance weighting model. The pH of the collected groundwater samples is mainly regulated by the presence of HCO 3 − alkali species. The fluoride concentrations in 34.6% of the samples exceeded the Bureau of Indian Standards' acceptable limit. The health risk assessment was conducted as per guidelines of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.The noncarcinogenic health risk of fluoride is the maximum and is followed by nitrate.Almost 56.73% of water samples are classified under the noncarcinogenic health risk category, and 1.9% of samples exhibit a carcinogenic health risk for both adults and children. The noncarcinogenic health risk for children is higher than for adults. pH was positively correlated with fluoride with a correlation coefficient of 0.287, which indicated that the higher pH augmented the displacement of fluoride ions from the mineral surface. HCO 3 − and Ca 2+ are moderately correlated with a correlation coefficient of 0.372, but HCO 3 − is negatively correlated with Mg 2+ (r = −0.049), indicating that calcite dissolution and/or precipitation is much higher than dolomite.