Risk assessment of uranium in drinking water in Hisar district of Haryana, India

Abstract

The present study highlights uranium concentrations, associated health risks and physico-chemical properties of groundwater samples collected from the Hisar district of Haryana State, India. We found that uranium concentrations in 21 out of 68 (30.9%) samples exceeded the WHO provisional guideline value of 30 μg L−1. The annual effective doses were estimated for different life stage groups. The highest dose was calculated for infants. From a radiological perspective, the mean cancer mortality risk and cancer morbidity risk were found to be 4.7 × 10−5 and 7.3 × 10−5, respectively, which are lower than the permissible limit of 1.67 × 10−4 as prescribed by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, India. The lifetime average daily dose (LADD) of uranium ranged from 0.03 to 7.83 μg kg−1 day−1. Approximately 23.5% of the samples showed significant chemical toxicity risk. A positive correlation between uranium and total dissolved solids (TDS) was observed.

Keywords

• annual effective dose
• chemical toxicity
• groundwater
• radiological risk
• uranium