{"title":"Tracing the Fate of Metal Contamination in Groundwater and Its Health Risks: Insights from Madurai Block, Tamil Nadu, India","authors":"Muthuramalingam Rajendran, Prabakaran Kulandaisamy, Kongeswaran Thangaraj, Sivakumar Karthikeyan, Venkatramanan Senapathi, Perumal Velmayil, Muruganantham Arumugam, Saravana Kumar Maluventhi, Sathish Sugumaran, Bangarupriyanga Sundaram","doi":"10.1007/s11270-025-07820-7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study addresses groundwater quality in Madurai block by examining heavy metal contamination and its potential health risks. Being the second largest city after Chennai, Madurai’s groundwater quality has not been analyzed for heavy metal contamination so far. In 2022, groundwater samples were taken from 60 wells in the pre- and post-monsoon seasons. The heavy metal concentrations of Cu, Cr, Cd, Co, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn were measured. The results showed that most of the groundwater samples exceeded the (World Health Organisation (2019) World health statistics overview: Monitoring health for the sustainable development goals), (Bureau of Indian Standards (2012) Drinking water specifications) and (USEPA (2018) National primary drinking water regulations (EPA 816-F-09–004)) limits for drinking water. A spatial analysis using kriging interpolation in GIS and a multivariate statistical analysis were performed to decipher the interrelationships of the metals. The results indicate different sources of heavy metals, primarily caused by weathering and evaporation in both seasons. Pollution indices such as HPI, HEI and DOC were used to comprehensively assess the extent of metal pollution in groundwater. The Hazard Quotient and Hazard Index emphasized the significant health risks to infants, children and adults. To improve the quality of groundwater, this region needs to adopt sustainable and environmentally friendly water management strategies, such as rainwater harvesting, wastewater treatment and strict pollution control measures.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":808,"journal":{"name":"Water, Air, & Soil Pollution","volume":"236 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Water, Air, & Soil Pollution","FirstCategoryId":"6","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11270-025-07820-7","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study addresses groundwater quality in Madurai block by examining heavy metal contamination and its potential health risks. Being the second largest city after Chennai, Madurai’s groundwater quality has not been analyzed for heavy metal contamination so far. In 2022, groundwater samples were taken from 60 wells in the pre- and post-monsoon seasons. The heavy metal concentrations of Cu, Cr, Cd, Co, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn were measured. The results showed that most of the groundwater samples exceeded the (World Health Organisation (2019) World health statistics overview: Monitoring health for the sustainable development goals), (Bureau of Indian Standards (2012) Drinking water specifications) and (USEPA (2018) National primary drinking water regulations (EPA 816-F-09–004)) limits for drinking water. A spatial analysis using kriging interpolation in GIS and a multivariate statistical analysis were performed to decipher the interrelationships of the metals. The results indicate different sources of heavy metals, primarily caused by weathering and evaporation in both seasons. Pollution indices such as HPI, HEI and DOC were used to comprehensively assess the extent of metal pollution in groundwater. The Hazard Quotient and Hazard Index emphasized the significant health risks to infants, children and adults. To improve the quality of groundwater, this region needs to adopt sustainable and environmentally friendly water management strategies, such as rainwater harvesting, wastewater treatment and strict pollution control measures.
期刊介绍：
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution is an international, interdisciplinary journal on all aspects of pollution and solutions to pollution in the biosphere. This includes chemical, physical and biological processes affecting flora, fauna, water, air and soil in relation to environmental pollution. Because of its scope, the subject areas are diverse and include all aspects of pollution sources, transport, deposition, accumulation, acid precipitation, atmospheric pollution, metals, aquatic pollution including marine pollution and ground water, waste water, pesticides, soil pollution, sewage, sediment pollution, forestry pollution, effects of pollutants on humans, vegetation, fish, aquatic species, micro-organisms, and animals, environmental and molecular toxicology applied to pollution research, biosensors, global and climate change, ecological implications of pollution and pollution models. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution also publishes manuscripts on novel methods used in the study of environmental pollutants, environmental toxicology, environmental biology, novel environmental engineering related to pollution, biodiversity as influenced by pollution, novel environmental biotechnology as applied to pollution (e.g. bioremediation), environmental modelling and biorestoration of polluted environments.
Articles should not be submitted that are of local interest only and do not advance international knowledge in environmental pollution and solutions to pollution. Articles that simply replicate known knowledge or techniques while researching a local pollution problem will normally be rejected without review. Submitted articles must have up-to-date references, employ the correct experimental replication and statistical analysis, where needed and contain a significant contribution to new knowledge. The publishing and editorial team sincerely appreciate your cooperation.
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution publishes research papers; review articles; mini-reviews; and book reviews.
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