Occurrence, toxicity load, pollution index and health risk assessment of trace elements in drinking water of two catchments in North-western Himalayas.

AbstractThe study focuses on the analysis of trace metals in drinking water from the Ganderbal and Budgam districts of Jammu and Kashmir. We have used high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) to measure the concentrations of 31 trace metals in the water samples. The measured concentrations were then compared with the permissible limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and World Health Organization (WHO). The results of the study indicate that arithmetic mean of several trace elements, including aluminum (Al = 781), chromium (Cr = 139), manganese (Mn = 41.86), nickel (Ni = 25.89), molybdenum (Mo = 1.30), cadmium (Cd = 36.86), and mercury (Hg = 67.65), in µg l-1 were found to have concentrations higher than their respective permissible limits. On the other hand, arithmetic mean of elements like beryllium (Be = 0.14), boron (B = 32.72), iron (Fe = 233), cobalt (Co = 1.79), copper (Cu = 10.71), arsenic (As = 0.93), selenium (Se = 3.13), strontium (Sr = 257), zinc (Zn = 43), antimony (Sb = 1.44), barium (Ba = 28.56), gold (Au = 0.91), and lead (Pb = 0.91) in µg l-1 were found to have concentrations below the permissible limits recommended by USEPA, BIS, and WHO. To assess the toxicity of the heavy metals in the study area, we calculated the Heavy Metal Toxicity Load (HMTL) for each metal. Based on these calculations, we concluded that only cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) need to be removed from drinking water to ensure safety. The study also conducted a health risk assessment for both children and adults based on the measured concentrations of heavy metals. The assessment considered the ingestion and dermal contact routes of exposure. The Hazard Index (HI), which indicates the non-carcinogenic health effects, was found to exceed unity for only one element, cadmium (Cd), in both the children and adult groups. This suggests potential non-carcinogenic health risks associated with the ingestion of water and dermal contact. Additionally, the potential carcinogenic risk of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) was identified and recommended for further attention. The study further evaluated the Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) to assess the overall quality of drinking water in the study area. The HPI results indicated that the quality of drinking water was good, and the pollution levels in the study area were low. Overall, the findings of this study provide valuable information for water resource development and supply agencies. The results can be used as a baseline for future research and monitoring efforts in the region.Keywords: Heavy metaldrinking waterHealth riskGanderbal and BudgamDisclaimerAs a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also. AcknowledgmentThe authors thank CSIR-National geophysical research institute, Hyderabad, India for providing lab facilities.DeclarationsEthical Approval:This declaration is not applicable.Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.zFundingNo source of funding is available.Data availabilityAll the data used in the study will be available from the corresponding author upon request.Author contributionAsiya Rahim conceptualized the idea of work, carried out experimental work in the field and laboratory, writing and editing of the manuscript. Savidh Khan, Asha Rani and Rayees Ahmed supervise the work and contributed in writing and reviewing. Vysetti Balaram provided the laboratory facility.