Hydrogeochemistry and Health Risk Assessment of groundwater and surface water in fluoride affected area of Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri District, Telangana State, India

Water is an indispensable and crucial component of the life sustenance system. According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), groundwater in 276 Districts in 20 States is contaminated with Fluoride. Considering the fact that Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district’s majority depend on groundwater for drinking. Fluoride a menace to this source is a cause for concern. This study was carried out to understand the fluoride contamination and its health risk assessment. For this study 47 (28 groundwater, 19 surface water) and 45 (28 groundwater, 17 surface water) samples were collected during pre and post-monsoon seasons respectively and were analysed for fluoride and other major ions. The water quality analysis data shows a higher concentration of fluoride in groundwater and surface water samples which ranges from 0.43–2.93 to 0.37–3.48 mg/L for pre-monsoon while 0.60–3.56 mg/L and 0.90–3.21 mg/L for post-monsoon seasons, respectively. Among the collected samples about 46.80% and 51.11% samples of pre- and post-monsoon exceeded the permissible limit of fluoride. The water quality data and sources of the dissolved constituent were analyzed by Piper Trilinear Diagram, Gibbs Plot, and Chloro-Alkaline Indices. Besides these, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and health risk assessments were carried out for different age groups. PCA result shows that the water chemistry is controlled by geogenic activities. The health risk assessment results divulged the hazard quotient via ingestion (HQ_ing) had a higher chronic hazard than the dermal pathway. Pre-monsoon HQ_ing percentage values of groundwater and surface water for the age group of 6–12 months are 92.85 and 97.73, respectively, and all the samples of post-monsoon have HQ_ing values greater than 1.