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Occurrence of uranium in groundwater of a shallow granitic aquifer and its suitability for domestic use in southern India

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Abstract

Groundwater used for domestic purpose without proper treatment should be free from chemical and biological contaminants. This study was carried out to assess the groundwater quality with respect to uranium in a part of Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Groundwater was regularly monitored for uranium concentration by collection of samples once every two months from March 2008 to November 2009 from 44 wells. The concentration of uranium in groundwater ranged from 0.2 to 118.4 ppb. Groundwater is unsuitable for domestic use in 2 % of this area based on the limit of 60 ppb prescribed by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India. However, due the wide variation in limit suggested by different organizations and countries, the no-observed-adverse-effect level and lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (in mg/kg day) was used to understand the dosage of uranium that reaches the people through drinking water pathway. This level varied from 0 to 0.02 mg/kg day and 0 to 0.08 mg/kg day based on an uncertainty factor of 10 and 50 respectively for the mean uranium concentration in groundwater in each well. With an uncertainty factor of 50, 5 groundwater samples had uranium above 0.06 mg/kg day which is the lowest-observed-adverse-effect level. This study showed that with the presence of present level of uranium concentration in groundwater of this area there is no major threat to humans through the drinking water pathway.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India for funding this work (Grant no. 2007/36/35). Authors also like to thank the Department of Science and Technology’s Funds for Improvement in Science and Technology scheme (Grant No. SR/FST/ESI-106/2010) and University Grants Commission’s Special Assistance Programme (Grant No. UGC DRS II F.550/10/DRS/2007(SAP-1)) for their support in creating laboratory facilities, which helped in carrying out part of this work. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewer for the critical and valuable comments that helped in significantly improving the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology, Anna University, Chennai, 600 025, India

    K. Brindha & L. Elango

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  1. K. Brindha
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  2. L. Elango
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Correspondence to L. Elango.

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Brindha, K., Elango, L. Occurrence of uranium in groundwater of a shallow granitic aquifer and its suitability for domestic use in southern India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 295, 357–367 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-2090-6

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