Contamination of groundwater by potentially toxic elements in groundwater and potential risk to groundwater users in the Bathinda and Faridkot districts of Punjab, India

Concentrations of uranium (U) and potentially toxic elements in groundwater and associated health risks posed to residents of Bathinda and Faridkot in the SW-Punjab, India. In Bathinda and Faridkot, average uranium contents were found to be 88 µg L⁻¹ and 61 µg L⁻¹, with 74% and 61% samples in the two areas, respectively, being above the WHO limit of 30 µg L⁻¹ in groundwater. Most health concern in the study area were the elevated concentrations of arsenic and mercury with average values of 176 µg L⁻¹ and 174 µg L⁻¹, respectively, in Bathinda, and 272 µg L⁻¹ and 79 µg L⁻¹, respectively, in Faridkot. An evaluation of the calculated Hazard Quotient (HQ) values indicated that HQ values in case of children for As (35.80 in Bathinda; 55.52 in Faridkot) and Hg (35.39 in Bathinda; 16.17 in Faridkot) were higher than the adults for As (27.66 in Bathinda;, 42.90 in Faridkot) and Hg (27.34 in Bathinda; 12.99 in Faridkot) and that these values were considerably higher than safe limit (HQ = 1) in the study region. This suggests that these potentially toxic elements pose significant health risks via groundwater ingestion. The investigation demonstrated the dominance of groundwater contamination by As and Hg over U with regards to cancer risks to residents of study area.