Influence of stone quarries on groundwater quality and health in Fatehpur Sikri, India

Abstract

Fatehpur Sikri block is a well known tourist place, also famous for sandstone and limestone quarries. Dental and skeleton fluorosis is a common disease among children (>10 years) and adults of all age groups. To understand the factors causing the dental and skeletal fluorosis diseases and their source in groundwater a study based on water quality analysis of aquifers in and around stone quarries, was carried out. All the dug wells are dry and majority of the hand pumps are equipped with the jet pumps in the block. Water samples were collected from hand pumps and tube wells in June 2012 and February 2013. Fluoride zonation and groundwater salinity maps were generated for shallow and deep aquifers. These analyses show drastic changes in the salinity levels of shallow and deep aquifers. The deep aquifers are more saline as compared to the shallow aquifers. On the contrary, the concentration of chemical constituents such as Na + , K + , Cl − and F − was more in the shallow aquifers compared to the deep aquifers. Concentration of fluoride was found more in villages near or within the stone quarries (shallow aquifers between 1.7 to 3.8 mg/l and 1.5 to 3.6 mg/l in June 2012 and February, 2013 respectively and in deep aquifers between 1.2 to 2.7 mg/l and 1.1 to 2.7 mg/l in June 2012 and February, 2013 respectively) as compared to the villages approximately 1–1.5 km far from these quarries. Study reveals escalation in both groundwater salinity and fluoride in aquifers and direct and indirect contribution of sandstone and limestone quarries in increasing hazardous materials in groundwater.