Uranium quantification in groundwater and health risk from its ingestion in Haryana, India

Abstract

Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive element which may cause toxicological or radiological hazards to the public if present in drinking water. This study reports the quantification of uranium in groundwater of major towns of the district Fatehabad, Haryana, India. Uranium concentrations ranged between 0.3 and 48 μg L−1. In 22% of the groundwater samples, uranium concentrations were higher than the World Health Organization maximum permissible limit of 30 µg L−1. The radiological dose for males was found to be in the range of 4.8 × 10−4–7.1 × 10−2 mSv y−1 and for females 3.5 × 10−4–5.2 × 10−2 mSv y−1. The results showed that due to the ingestion of groundwater in the study area, radiological cancer risk is in the range of 9.1 × 10−7–1.3 × 10−4, lower than the risk limit. Uranium ingestion from groundwater varied from 0.02 to 3.5 µg kg−1 day−1, which is within acceptable limit.