Abstract
Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) is one of the major health issues in Northern part of Sri Lanka that recorded highest mortality and morbidity rates. The main responsible reason for the CKDu has not yet been identied and hence many scientists have suggested number of certain risk factors where the CKDu-mfo (CKDu multi-factorial origin) term derived. However it relates with certain drinking water quality parameters strongly. This study was focused on evaluating the drinking water quality of Ulagalla cascade in Anuradhapura district with admiration to CKDu. Thirty wells and twenty tanks were selected as sampling locations for groundwater (GW) and surface water (SW) respectively from the cascade. Water quality parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, Sodium (Na+), Magnesium (Mg2+), Calcium (Ca2+), Potassium (K+), Arsenic (As2+), Lead (Pb2+), Cadmium (Cd2+), Ammonium Nitrogen (NH4+-N), Nitrate Nitrogen (NO3 - -N), alkalinity, Sulphate (SO4 2-, Chloride (Cl-) and Phosphate (PO43-) were analysed and observed parameters were compared with drinking water quality standards. In GW turbidity, Mg, Cl- and Cd were not signicantly dierent from the maximum permissible level (p>0.05) while SW has shown signicant dierence only for the turbidity (p>0.05). Both well and tank water samples from Thodamaduwa were polluted by Cd which exceeded the maximum permissible level standards. It was recorded as averages of 0.15, 0.13 and 0.019 ppb for 3 identied polluted wells in GW and 0.01ppb in tank water. Accordingly the study it can be suggested that cumulative levels of heavy metals (such as Cd) may be aggravating the CKDu in the Northern Central Parts in Sri Lanka.
Highlights
The dry zone of Sri Lanka is well-known as the cradle of island’s hydraulic civilization with the foremost kingdom, Anuradhapura
The total area of the cascade was divided into 1 km2 grids and one well to represent each grid was purposely selected from above mentioned villages to evaluate the quality of ground water (GW)
Obtained results had been comparatively discussed with the results obtained from previous studies to the dry zone by analysing same parameters in Kumari et al (2016) and Chandarjith et al (2011b). pH in GW has varied between the range of pH 6.7 8.7 and in the surface water (SW) it was 5.8-8.2
Summary
The dry zone of Sri Lanka is well-known as the cradle of island’s hydraulic civilization with the foremost kingdom, Anuradhapura. Average annual rainfall in the dry zone is generally 1000mm mostly from October to December and has a dry period from late May to September [Burt & Weerasinghe, 2014]. The tank cascade system (TCS) is the most advanced water conveyance mechanism developed to overcome water scarcity problems in dry zone from the ancient irrigation history [Mahatantila et al, 2008]. Water in tanks is generally used for agricultural and domestic purposes including drinking [Jayawardena, 2015]. Tail end tank of TCS may significantly polluted as a result of intensive application of agrochemicals in paddy fields that were not evident in ancient time [Kumari et al, 2013]. As a result of polluted water intake, there is some health concerns reported from the people inhabited in the dry zone
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