Abstract
Fluoride contamination in groundwater has mostly been documented in the arid and semiarid regions of the world. Exclusively, the main aim of this study is to assess the concentrations of fluoride in groundwater and its associated human health risk assessment in the rural region of Medak in India. For this study, 40 groundwater samples were collected from boreholes/hand pumps distributed throughout the investigated region and analyzed for pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), and major ions including fluoride. Results indicated that fluoride concentration varied from 0.8 to 7.1 mg/L with a mean of 1.94 mg/L, and over 25% of collected groundwater samples were above the recommended limit of 1.5 mg/L. A human health risk assessment obtained from the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) was performed to evaluate the possible health risk of groundwater fluoride through the drinking water pathway. The hazard quotient (HQ) values for men, women, and children ranged from 0.51 to 4.55, 0.61 to 5.38, and 0.69 to 6.15, respectively. This finding suggests that children populations of the study region were most susceptible than men and women. Therefore, the intake of low fluoride drinking water will only diminish the human health risks connected with groundwater fluoride exposure.
Published Version
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