Human Health Risk Assessment for Nitrate intake in Lucknow, India

Abstract

It is important to apply the methods to set the standard for drinking water quality and to conduct risk assessments since access to potable water resources exposes people to a variety of chemical pollutants, including nitrate. Drinking water with high nitrate levels can be harmful to health, especially for infants and pregnant women. The main objective of the present study was to determine the distribution levels of nitrate contamination in groundwater and its associated impact on human health risks in Lucknow India. For this 32 groundwater samples were collected randomly during April 2022. Nitrate concentration in groundwater samples ranged from 7 to 108 mg/L, with a mean value of 41.35 mg/L. The geographic information system (ArcGIS 10.7.1) was applied to mapping the nitrate concentration in groundwater resources of the studied area. About 43.75% of the groundwater samples are exceeding the permissible limits of nitrate (45 mg/l). Hence health risk assessment of nitrate has been carried out. Hazard quotient (HQ) values for male, female, children, and infants ranges from 0.14 to 2.07; 0.16 to 2.45; 0.17 to 2.63, and 0.16 to 2.53, respectively. The finding of data showed that HQ value was more than 1 in 53..125% of samples in groups of infants and children, 50% of samples for female, and 43.75% of samples in group of male.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

Safe drinking water is a basic need for good health, and it is also a basic right of humans. Fresh water is already a limiting resource in many parts of the world. Drinking water quality is a relative term that relates the composition of water with the effects of natural processes and human activities. Deterioration of drinking water quality arises from the introduction of chemical compounds into the water supply system through leaks and cross-connections. The quality of water is affected by an increase in anthropogenic activities and any pollution either physical or chemical causes changes to the quality of the receiving water body. Potential human health risk assessment, including noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, has been considered a good and important method for determining health risks to humans. The level of nitrate in drinking water is an indicator of water quality. Based on the World Health Organization (WHO), nitrate is among the few contaminants found in drinking water that can cause very quick health problems. High levels of nitrate in drinking water can be harmful to both humans and animals. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) stipulated the maximum nitrate concentration in drinking water of 45 mg/L (USEPA 2013). Regular exposure to nitrate, one of the primary contaminants in groundwater reservoirs, can have a negative impact on health and increase the risk of methemoglobinemia (also known as "blue baby syndrome"), particularly in communities with small children. Therefore, monitoring of groundwater resources and use of methods for assessing the health risks of water pollutants should be required for programs that promote good health. The United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) defines the human health risk assessment as the systematic approach for estimating the likelihood of adverse health effects in the exposed population who may be susceptive to specific harmful substances in polluted ecological systems, such as water resources.

A. Study Area

Lucknow district situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh covers an area of 2528 sq. km. The area lies between North Latitude 26° 30?- 27° 10? and East Longitude 80° 30?- 81° 13?. The shape of the district is like an irregular quadrilateral. Administratively, Lucknow district has been divided into 5 tehsils and 8 Community Development blocks viz., Bakshi Ka Talab, Chinhat, Gosaiganj, Kakori, Mal, Malihabad, Mohanlalganj, and Sarojani Nagar. The district is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and is well connected by railways, roads, and airways. The area is covered by younger and older alluvial plains. The younger alluvial plain lies all along the Gomti River and comprises active and older flood plains. The older alluvial plain occupies higher levels than the younger alluvial plain and is marked with natural levees, palaeochannels, and meander scars. The slope in the district is generally low with a slight high gradient along the Gomti River.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

A. Data Descriptions

The groundwater samples were collected from 32 different location in the Lucknow district. The samples were collected in April month form bore/hand pump of study area. The samples were collected in acid-washed 1 litter polyethylene bottles to prevent unpredictable changes in characteristic as per standard procedures [3]. Each of the groundwater samples was analysed for nitrate. The nitrate concentration was measured with the help of Spectrophotometer standard method was used for the measurement of nitrate concentration suggested by APHA (American Public Health Association). the details of locations and concentration of Nitrate are given in table 2.

B. Human Health Risk Assessment

Groundwater quality has been steadily declining in recent decades as a result of numerous pollution sources such fertilisers and chemicals. And as a result, people are more aware of the risk to human health. In this new era, assessing health risks is essential.  Health assessment insures and evaluates adverse human health effect on infants, children, female and male. The chronic daily intake (CDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) were calculated by following formulas:

Where CDI is the Chronic Daily Intake (mg/kg/day), CPW indicate nitrate contamination concentration in groundwater (mg/L), Ingestion rate (IR) 2 L/day for male and female, 0.78 L/day for children, 0.3 L/day infants. ED indicates exposure duration Years 40, 40, 12 & <1 for male, female, children, infants respectively. EF indicates exposure frequency is assigned, 365days/year for male, female, children and Infants, ABW denotes Average Body Weight of human body in kg 65 (male), 55 (female), 20 (Children), 8 (infants), AET denotes average exposure time Days, 14,600 for male and female, 4380 children and 365 infants.

RfD indicates that reference of NO3− (1.6 mg/kg/d) were obtained from the database of Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), and USEPA (2012). Hazard quotient value exceeding 1 is referred as adverse non-carcinogenic risk for human health, while HQ values less than 1 indicates acceptable limit of non-carcinogenic risk.

TABLE 1. PARAMETERS AND THEIR VALUES USED FOR HHRA COMPUTATION (USAEPA)

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Spatial map of nitrate concentration was made using GIS software (ArcGIS 10.7.1) shown in fig. 2. Which shows that about 44.5% of study area had more 45 mg/l of nitrate concentration. Nitrate concentration in groundwater samples ranged from 7 to 108 mg/L, with a mean value of 41.35 mg/L. Regular exposure to nitrate, one of the primary contaminants in groundwater reservoirs, can have a negative impact on health and increase the risk of methemoglobinemia (also known as "blue baby syndrome"), particularly in communities with small children. Hence health risk assessment of nitrate has been carried out. Hazard quotient (HQ) values for male, female, children, and infants ranges from 0.14 to 2.07; 0.16 to 2.45; 0.17 to 2.63, and 0.16 to 2.53, respectively. HQ value more than 1 indicates high risk. The finding of data showed that HQ value was more than 1 in 53..125% of samples in groups of infants and children, 50% of samples for female, and 43.75% of samples in group of male.

TABLE 2. NITRATE CONCENTRATION AND HAZARD QUOTIENT FOR FOUR GROUPS

TABLE 3. HQ RANGE OF SAMPLES FOR FOUR GROUP

IV. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author thanks Asst. Prof. Anirudh Gupta, CED, IET Lucknow for his holistic support and Ecomen Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. Lucknow for providing essential facilities for completing this study. Thanks are also extended to CGWB, UP Jal Nigam, Lucknow, for providing all necessary data.

Conclusion

The data of present paper revealed that the nitrate concentration in 43.75% of groundwater samples exceeding the maximum permissible limits (45 mg/L) according to world health organization (WHO) guidelines. The study\'s conclusions show that all four groups—infants, kids, women, and men—are exposed to nitrate risk (HQ>1). High nitrate concentration in drinking water causes health risks on human body like methemoglobinemia in infants and stomach cancer in children. The findings of this study reveal the all the four groups i.e. infants, children, female and male are exposed to nitrate risk (HQ>1). Health risk assessment revealed that male, are less prone to risk than female. Hence proper precautionary measures have to be taken to control health risk in this area.

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Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Shashi Kant Yadav, Dr. Anirudh Gupta. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.