Abstract

SARFRAZ, Muhammad; SULTANA, Nargis  and  TARIQ, Muhammad Ilyas. HAZARDOUS POLLUTANTS IN POTABLE GROUNDWATER SOURCES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SOUTHERN PUNJAB (PAKISTAN). Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2019, vol.35, n.4, pp.797-805.  Epub Dec 22, 2020. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2019.35.04.02.

Drinking water quality is considered to be of vital importance for all human beings and animals but its significance is much more heightened when consumer is a teenager. In view of foregone, groundwater quality assessment of 150 public schools situated in flooded areas of Southern Punjab, Pakistan, was carried out. Analysis results revealed that 49 and 37 % water samples are contaminated with coliform and faecal coliforms, respectively. On the other hand chemicals constituents in samples, including calcium (43 %), magnesium (11 %), potassium (37 %), sodium (31 %), sulphate (39 %), hardness (31 %), total dissolved solids (TDS) (35 %) and chloride (15 %) were higher than World Health Organization (WHO) limits. The situation is more serious as fluoride, iron and arsenic were also found in high concentration in 15, 60 and 58 % samples, respectively. Health risk assessment data indicated that mean chronic daily intake (CDI) values for children and adults were 0.592 and 0.537 μg/kg/day for arsenic and 0.012 and 0.011 μg/kg/day for iron, respectively. Calculated arsenic health risk index (HRI) > 1 for 88 and 58 % water samples for children and adults respectively, which highlights possible health risks associated with intake of contaminated water.

Keywords : contamination; water quality; health risk assessment; trace metals; chronic daily intake.