Non-Carcinogenic Health Risk Evaluation of Elevated Fluoride in Groundwater and Its Suitability Assessment for Drinking Purposes Based on Water Quality Index

Zahid Ullah, Yifan Xu, Xian-Chun Zeng, Abdur Rashid, Asmat Ali, Javed Iqbal, Mikhlid H. Almutairi, Lotfi Aleya, Mohamed M. Abdel-Daim and Muddaser Shah
Additional contact information
Zahid Ullah: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Yifan Xu: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Xian-Chun Zeng: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Abdur Rashid: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Asmat Ali: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Javed Iqbal: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Mikhlid H. Almutairi: Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Lotfi Aleya: Chrono-Environnement Laboratory, UMR CNRS 6249, Bourgogne, Franche-Comté University, CEDEX, F-25030 Besancon, France
Mohamed M. Abdel-Daim: Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
Muddaser Shah: Department of Botany, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan 23200, Pakistan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-17

Abstract: Fluoride (F − ) contamination in drinking groundwater is a significant human health risk in Pakistan. Moreover, high fluoride pollution in drinking water causes a variety of disorders, including dental, neurological, and skeletal fluorosis. The aim of this research was to evaluate the health risk of elevated fluoride in groundwater and its suitability assessment for drinking purposes. The total of ( n = 37) samples were collected from community tube wells of Quetta Valley, Balochistan, Pakistan. The results show a mean pH value of 7.7, TDS of 404.6 mg/L, EC of 500 µs/cm, depth of 96.8 feet, and turbidity of 1.7 nephelometric turbidity units. The mean values of HCO 3 − , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and Na + , were 289.5, 47.5, 30.6, and 283.3 mg/L, respectively. The mean values of SO 4 2− , NO 3 − , K + , Cl − , and Fe 2+ , were 34.9, 1.0, 1.6, 25.6, and 0.01 mg/L, respectively. The F − concentration in the groundwater varied between 0.19 and 6.21, with a mean value of 1.8 mg/L, and 18 samples out of 37 were beyond the WHO recommended limit of 1.5 mg/L. The hydrochemical analysis results indicated that among the groundwater samples of the study area, 54% samples were Na-HCO 3 type and 46% were mixed CaNaHCO 3 type. The saturation indices of the mineral phases reveal that the groundwater sources of the study area were saturated with CaCO 3 and halide minerals due to their positive (SI) values. Such minerals include calcite, dolomite, gypsum, and fluorite. The principal component analysis results reveal that the groundwater sources of the study area are contaminated due to geological and anthropogenic actions. The health risk assessment results of the F − concentrations show the ranges of ADD ingestion for children, females, and males in the Quetta Valley, and their mean values were observed to be 0.093052, 0.068825, and 0.065071, respectively. The HQ ingestion mean values were 1.55086, 1.147089, and 1.084521 for children, females, and males, respectively. It was noticed that children had the highest maximum and average values of ADD ingestion and HQ ingestion in the research area, indicating that groundwater fluoride intake poses the greatest health risk to children. The water quality index (WQI) analyses show that 44% of the samples belong to the poor-quality category, 49% were of good quality, and 8% of the samples of the study area belong to the excellent category.

Keywords: groundwater fluoride; geochemical modeling; health risk assessment; source provenance; Quetta Valley (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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