Occurrences of potentially toxic trace metals in groundwater of the state of Punjab in northern India

Abstract

In present study, a total of 275 representative water samples (263 groundwater, 8 canal water, 2 samples from Sutlej River and 2 samples from Buddha Nala) were collected and analysed. The sampling was carried out in the month of August, September, and October of 2019. These samples were analysed for the Arsenic (As-total), Aluminium (Al), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), and Lead (Pb). The result found that 3.8 % of the analysed groundwater samples have As concentrations above acceptable limit (10 μg/L) and ~0.38 % samples exceeded the permissible limit of 50 μg/L. Iron concentration exceeded the acceptable limit of 0.3 mg/L for drinking water in ~14.83 % groundwater samples. The mean concentration of iron was found 252 μg/L and 3810 μg/L for groundwater and canal water, respectively. It was observed that some samples have concentrations more than acceptable limits in the cities of Ludhiana, SBS Nagar, Rupnagar, SAS Nagar districts and in parts of Mansa, Amristar and Gurdaspur districts of the state of Punjab. Iron was found exceeding the permissible limit in the villages like, Moran wara (Firozepur), Churian (Firozepur), Manewal (Ludhiana), PandKhokhan (Muktsar) and Pakki Kalan (Faridkot).