Assessment of health risk of heavy metals and water quality indices for irrigation and drinking suitability of waters: a case study of Jamalpur Sadar area, Bangladesh

Abstract

Surface and groundwater samples of the Jamalpur Sadar area of Bangladesh were evaluated for their suitability for irrigation and drinking purposes by different water quality indices, as well as human health risks were assessed. Piper diagram showed that the water quality of both sources represents Ca-Mg-HCO3 hydrochemical facies in which the equal dominance of alkaline earth metals and weak acids was observed. According to the water quality index (WQI) ratings, 95% of the groundwater samples were found in the ‘unsuitable’ category for drinking, while 18% of the surface and 25% of the groundwater samples identified as ‘suitable’ for irrigation usages. Heavy metals present in surface water varied from ‘low’ to ‘high’ class, and the mobility of metals in 22.7% samples was comparatively high in the aqueous phase. The calculated results of the heavy metal pollution index (HMPI), heavy metal evaluation index (HMEI), and environmental water quality index (EWQI) also showed almost similar trends with the WQI. The results revealed that surface water possessed more potential non-carcinogenic harmful health risks to the residents of the study area to compare to groundwater. As regards carcinogenic health risks, on average there is a possibility of 5 persons in every 106 developing cancer due to lifetime exposure to Cd through ingestion of groundwater. The study concluded that long term use of poor quality water may pose a hazard to human health, crops, and soils, and therefore require to be treated before using those waters for drinking and irrigation purposes.