Ground water pollution effect on human health in Industrial areas and Urban areas: A case study of Paschim Medinipur District in West Bengal

ABSTRACT

Thirty locations in the rapidly expanding residential and commercial area of the Paschim Medinipur region in eastern India provided groundwater samples in January and May of 2020. These times of sampling occurred both before and after the region's industrial activity was shut down and agricultural activity was cut back as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see how much of an impact reduced human activity had on groundwater quality. Samples taken before the monsoons showed that fluoride levels in about 17 percent of the wells that had been impacted by high fluoride concentration levels after the monsoons had returned to safe levels for human consumption. Ion exchange processes, seasonal monsoon rainwater infiltration diluting ion concentrations including geogenic fluoride, and a decrease in anthropogenic sources during the lockdown are likely to have contributed to this. Groundwater samples taken after the monsoon season showed that 73%, 60%, and 50%, respectively, had fluoride concentrations above the allowable limit, as calculated using the total hazard index for fluoride in children, adult women, and adult men. Nitrate pollution was found to have decreased by 33.4% between the pre-and post-monsoon periods. Prior to the onset of the monsoon season, the chemical facies of the aquifers was found to have reverted from the Na-HCO3-Cl & Na-Cl to the Ca-HCO3 variety. The groundwater chemistry of this region is affected by a number of factors, including weathering of plagioclase minerals, carbonate dissolution, reverse ion exchange, & anthropogenic inputs, as shown by a number of geogenic indicators (such as molar ratios, inter-ionic relations, and graphical tools). Saturation index evaluations of post-monsoon and pre-monsoon samples corroborated these results. Groundwater pollution from Na+, K+, Cl-, NO3, and F-ions was greatly reduced during the COVID-19 lockdown as a result of the suspension of industrial and agricultural activities. Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 lockdown was accompanied by an increase in the concentration of HCO3 ions in the groundwater supply. Conclusions show that reducing human-caused pollution inputs has the potential to improve groundwater quality. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.