Multi-model exploration of groundwater quality and potential health risk assessment in Jajpur district, Eastern India.

The presence of fluoride and nitrate is a serious groundwater quality issue in India impacting human health. In the present study, 14 different hydrochemical parameters for 76 groundwater samples collected from the Jajpur district of Odisha, India, were evaluated. Entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI), fixed-weight groundwater quality index (GWQI), principal component analysis (PCA), and rotated factor loading-based water quality index (PCWQI) were employed to assess groundwater quality. About 65.79 ± 4.68%, 33.55 ± 3.95%, and 0.66 ± 0.76% of the samples were rated as "excellent," "good," or "medium" quality, respectively, across the four different water quality indices, with a nominal rating discrepancy of 13.15%. Though 86% of samples consistently received excellent or good ratings across all WQI frameworks, concentrations of F- and NO3- in 36.8% and 11.84% of the samples exceeded the WHO permissible limit. In health risk assessment, about 38.15% of samples surpassed the F- hazard quotient (HQ > 1) posing non-carcinogenic health risks for children. The non-carcinogenic health risks due to NO3- were evident in 55.26% and 11.84% of samples for children and adults, respectively. The higher concentration of NO3- in some of the water samples, together with its positive correlation with HCO3-, may worsen groundwater pollution. The moderate correlation between Ca2+ and HCO3- (r = 0.410) and the insignificant correlation between Mg2+ and HCO3- (r = 0.234) suggests calcite dissolution is far more common than dolomite.

Adsorptive sequestration of noxious uranium (VI) from water resources: A comprehensive review.

Groundwater is usually utilized as a drinking water asset everywhere. Therefore, groundwater defilement by poisonous radioactive metals such as uranium (VI) is a major concern due to the increase in nuclear power plants as well as their by-products which are released into the watercourses. Waste Uranium (VI) can be regarded as a by-product of the enrichment method used to produce atomic energy, and the hazard associated with this is due to the uranium radioactivity causing toxicity. To manage these confronts, there are so many techniques that have been introduced but among those adsorptions is recognized as a straightforward, successful, and monetary innovation, which has gotten major interest nowadays, despite specific drawbacks regarding operational as well as functional applications. This review summarizes the various adsorbents such as Bio-adsorbent/green materials, metal oxide-based adsorbent, polymer based adsorbent, graphene oxide based adsorbent, and magnetic nanomaterials and discuss their synthesis methods. Furthermore, this paper emphasis on adsorption process by various adsorbents or modified forms under different physicochemical conditions. In addition to this adsorption mechanism of uranium (VI) onto different adsorbent is studied in this article. Finally, from the literature reviewed conclusion have been drawn and also proposed few future research suggestions.

Assessment of groundwater geochemistry using multivariate water quality index and potential health risk in industrial belt of central Odisha, India.

Groundwater in India has been shown to have a variety of water quality issues, including fluoride, nitrate, and uranium pollution, all of which pose a health risk to humans. In the present study, a total of 106 groundwater samples from the Angul district of Odisha, an industrialized region in India, were analyzed for 14 different hydrochemical parameters. In almost 30%, 34.9%, and 4.7% of the groundwater samples, the concentrations of F-, NO3- and uranium, respectively, exceeded the permissible limit set by WHO. In addition to the fixed-weight groundwater quality index (GWQI), the entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI), the principal component analysis (PCA) factor (or rotated factor) loading based water quality index (PCWQI) and human health risk assessment were used. Depending on the models, about 19.1 ± 0.9%, 70.5 ± 1.9% and 10.38 ± 1.9% of water samples were classified as "Excellent", "Good" and "Medium" quality, respectively, across four water quality indexes with a nominal rating disagreement of 11.3%. More than 90% of samples are unanimously classified as excellent or good across the WQI rating. For children and adults, approximately 54.7% and 24.5% of samples exceeded the permitted limit for F-, (hazard quotient HQ > 1), posing non-carcinogenic health hazards, respectively. In contrast, 71.7% and 34.9% of NO3- samples respectively, surpassed the allowed limit and caused non-carcinogenic health concerns for children and adults. In terms of carcinogenic HQ values, about 13.2% and 7.5% of samples exhibit an uranium related carcinogenic health risk in children and adults, respectively. The existence of significant amounts of Cl -, NO3-, and especially HCO3- ions in groundwater in some samples, as well as their positive interdependence, may increase uranium pollution in the future through uranium dissolution.

Hydro-geochemical analysis based on entropy and geostatistics model for delineation of anthropogenic ground water pollution for health risks assessment of Dhenkanal district, India.

Consumption of poor quality water causes serious human health hazards. Therefore, it is very crucial to investigate factors influencing the quality of groundwater and its suitability for drinking purpose. In the present study, groundwater quality of the Dhenkanal district of Odisha, India was characterized and the spatial distribution of different water quality parameters were analyzed using the multivariate statistics, entropy theory, and geostatistics techniques. In the present study 112 number of groundwater tube well samples were collected from the study area. The entropy theory revealed that SO42-, Mg+2 and Cl- were the most influencing parameters. A similar observation was also observed based on the correlation coefficient analysis. Groundwater quality index (GWQI) and entropy-weighted water quality index (EWQI) classifications indicated that 78.57 and 43.75% of the collected groundwater samples were categorized under excellent water quality, whereas, the rest of the samples were varying from good to medium drinking water quality. In addition, the result of EWQI classification offers more realistic assessment than that of GWQIs owing to its high precision, simplicity and without application of artificial weight. The correlation coefficient between Ca+2 and HCO3-, Mg+2 and PO4- were significantly high which might be due the presence of CaHCO3 and MgPO4 in the groundwater samples. The GWQI revealed a weak spatial dependence of groundwater quality.

Source apportionment, chemometric pattern recognition and health risk assessment of groundwater from southwestern Punjab, India.

The groundwater quality of southwestern Punjab, India, is a serious cause of concern due to the presence of chemical contaminants in it. However, limited studies of groundwater quality, sources of chemical contaminants and their health risks are available for the region. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the source, distribution and potential health risk assessment of groundwater quality in three districts of southwestern Punjab, India. The spatial distribution of groundwater chemical contaminants and their potential health risks have been illustrated using inverse distance weighting interpolation technique. The concentration of fluoride (F-; ranged from 0.08 to 4.79 mg L-1) exceeded the WHO limit (1.5 µg L-1) in 80 and 50% samples collected from Bathinda and Ludhiana districts, respectively. The uranium (U) concentration ranged from 0.5 to 432 µg L-1 and shows ~ 85%, 75% and 10% of samples collected from Bathinda, Barnala and Ludhiana districts exceeded the WHO drinking water limit (30 µg L-1), respectively. The groundwater quality of the Bathinda district is a matter of concern due to elevated levels of alkalinity, hardness, fluoride, uranium and nitrate (NO3-). The principal component analysis shows close association between F- and U, which indicates their geogenic origin. Further, they also seem to be subordinately influenced by diffuse anthropogenic activities. The clustering of Cu and Pb with NO3- and SO42- indicates their anthropogenic origin. The non-carcinogenic health risk assessment indicates that F-, NO3- and U are the major health risk pollutants in the study area. The carcinogenic health risk of As and Cr exceeded the USEPA limits (10-6) in the entire study area, but observed to be more serious for the district Bathinda (10-3-10-5). The spatial distribution maps illustrate that the health risk for Bathinda district inhabitants is higher than Barnala and Ludhiana districts.

Quantification of groundwater-agricultural soil quality and associated health risks in the agri-intensive Sutlej River Basin of Punjab, India.

The quality of drinking water and agricultural soil significantly affects the health of residents of the area. The quality of groundwater used as drinking and irrigation water along with agricultural soil of an agri-intensive region of the Sutlej River Basin (SRB), Punjab (India), has been investigated in the present paper to further access their impacts on human health. The quality parameters studied are pH, conductivity, cations, anions and trace elements/heavy metals. The spatio-distribution maps of major contaminates have been made. The distribution of major existing groundwater and agricultural soil contaminants has also been illustrated using inverse distance weighting interpolation technique. Further, the Pearson correlation matrix and principal component analysis (PCA) have been applied to explore the correlation and source apportionment analysis for the contaminants. Finally, the health risk assessment study has also been performed. The results showed elevated levels [compared to BIS acceptable limits] of bicarbonate and total hardness in more than 90% groundwater samples, while the concentration of Se and U exceeded in around 25% samples. Spatial distribution maps showed a non-homologous distribution pattern for most of the heavy metals except Zn, indicating their different origins. The significant existence of Se and U in groundwater and low content in soils indicated their geogenic origin. The Gibbs diagram suggested that rock-water interaction is the primary process controlling the chemical evolution of the groundwater in the region. The PCA indicated that Cu, Mn, Pb, NO3- and SO42- in groundwater have an anthropogenic origin, whereas Fe, As and U are mainly of geogenic origin. Significant positive correlations of heavy metals with Fe and Al in soils indicated scavenging of these elements by Fe/Al-oxyhydroxides minerals. Based on SAR, Na%, PI and corrosivity ratio analysis, it can be concluded that groundwater of the region is suitable for irrigation purposes Further, health risk assessment study indicated Cr and As are the possible cancer risk posing elements from both soil and groundwater. Non-carcinogenic risk assessment showed that cumulative exposure (hazard index-1.98) of U (HQ 1.21), NO3- (HQ 0.37) and F- (HQ 0.34) might pose harmful impacts to residents through groundwater ingestion in the long term. Although currently the contaminants in the groundwater-soil system may not pose any human health risks, continuous long-term monitoring is required to keep a check on the changes in their quality with time.

Sobol sensitivity analysis for risk assessment of uranium in groundwater.

The exposure to uranium (U) in the natural environment is primarily through ingestion (eating contaminated food and drinking water) and dermal (skin contact with U powders/wastes) pathways. This study focuses on the dose assessment for different age-groups using the USEPA model. A total of 156 drinking water samples were tested to know U level in the groundwater of the study region. Different age-groups were selected to determine the human health impact due to uranium exposure in the residing populations. To determine the relative importance of each input, a variance decomposition technique, i.e., Sobol sensitivity analysis, was used. Furthermore, different sample sizes were tested to obtain the optimal Sobol sensitivity indices. Three types of effects were evaluated: first-order effect (FOE), second-order effect (SOE) and total effect. The result of analysis revealed that 17% of the samples had U concentration above 30 µg l-1 of U, which is the recommended level by World Health Organization. The mean hazard index (HI) value for younger age-group was found to be less than 1, whereas the 95th percentile value of HI value exceeded for both age-groups. The mean annual effective dose of U for adults was found to be slightly higher than the recommended level of 0.1 m Sv year-1. This result signified that adults experienced relatively higher exposure dose than the children in this region. Sobol sensitivity analysis of FOE showed that the concentration of uranium (Cw) is the most sensitive input followed by intake rate (IR) and exposure frequency. Moreover, the value of SOE revealed that interaction effect of Cw - IR is the most sensitive input parameter for the assessment of oral health risk. On the other hand, dermal model showed Cw - F as the most sensitive interaction input. The larger value of SOE was also recorded for older age-group than for the younger group.

Neonatal Exposure to 6-n-Propyl-Thiouracil, an Anti-Thyroid Drug, Alters Expression of Hepatic DNA Methyltransferases, Methyl CpG-Binding Proteins, Gadd45a, p53, and PCNA in Adult Male Rats.

BACKGROUND: Neonatal 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) exposure to male rats is reported to impair liver function in adulthood. However, the mechanism by which the drug impairs liver function is not well known. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to investigate the effects of neonatal exposure of PTU on the expression of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), methyl-DNA binding proteins (MBDs), Gadd45a, p53, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in adult rat liver. METHODS: The effects of neonatal transient (from birth to 30 days of age) and persistent (from birth to 90 days of age) treatment of PTU on DNA damage and on the expression of p53, PCNA, DNMTs, and MBDs were investigated at transcriptional and translational levels in male adult liver. RESULTS: Persistent exposure to PTU from birth caused significant downregulation of expression of DNMT1 and DNMT3a and upregulation of DNMT3b, MBD4, and Gadd45a without any damage to DNA. Although MeCp2 transcripts were significantly low in the liver of adult rats after persistent exposure to PTU compared to controls, its translated products were significantly higher than in controls. The expression of p53 and PCNA in PTU-treated rats was significantly higher and lower, respectively, than that in control rats. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that neonatal exposure of male rats to PTU resulted in alteration in the expression of proteins that are associated with DNA methylation and genome stabilization in adult rat liver.

Neonatal Persistent Exposure to 6-Propyl-2-thiouracil, a Thyroid-Disrupting Chemical, Differentially Modulates Expression of Hepatic Catalase and C/EBP-ß in Adult Rats.

Persistent exposure of rats to 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) from birth resulted in decreases in plasma thyroid hormone (TH) levels and hepatic expression of catalase and CCAAT enhancer binding protein ß (C/EBP-ß). Catalase promoter region (-185 to +52) that contains binding sites for C/EBP-ß showed an augmentation in the methylation level along with a change in methylation pattern of CpG islands in response to PTU treatment. PTU withdrawal on 30 days of birth restored TH levels and C/EBP-ß to control rats in adulthood. Although catalase expression was restored to some extent in adult rats in response to PTU withdrawal, a permanent change in its promoter CpG methylation pattern was recorded. The results suggest that downregulation of adult hepatic catalase gene in response to persistent neonatal PTU exposure may not solely be attributed to thyroid-disrupting properties of PTU. It is possible that besides thyroid-disrupting behavior, PTU may impair expression of hepatic catalase by altering methylation pattern of its promoter.