Hydrochemical Assessment and Factor Analysis of Groundwater with Special Reference to Fluoride in Kanpur Dehat, U.P., India

Abstract

Present study aim to understand the hydrochemistry of underground water of Kanpur Dehat district U.P. with special reference to fluoride contamination. Total 75 samples from ground water sources scattered in 10 blocks of Kanpur Dehat were collected and analyzed statistically. The characteristic feature of ground water indicated the presence of F-(0.20-4.76 mg/L), HCO 3 2-(213.50-1830.00 mg/L), CO 3 2-(0.00-204.00 mg/L) Cl-(0.00-603.50 mg/L), SO 4 2-(1.92-649.00 mg/L), Mg 2+ (13.74-138.51 mg/L), Ca 2+ (3.21-93.23 mg/L), Na + (23.50-750.00 mg/L), K + (2.00-87.12 mg/L). In general pH of ground water is found to be alkaline (mean ± SD, 8.11±.0.40 with high value of EC (458.00-4992.00 µS/cm), TDS (516.00-2998.00 mg/L), TH (89.70-740.00 mg/L), TA (0.00-1500.00 mg/L) and Iron (0.00-419 mg/L).Total 14.67% samples exceeds maximum desirable limit of BIS 10500 and WHO limit (1.5 mg/L). Sarwankhera is found to be worst affected where 50% samples exceeds both BIS maximum permissible limit and WHO limit, followed by Sandalpur, Derapur, Akbarpur, Rasulabad, Jhinjhank and Amroudha. Maitha, Rajpur and Malasa are found to be safe for drinking in reference of fluoride. The present study also revealed that fluoride enrichment in underground water is not ubiquitous, it occurs in patches. Some identified patched in present study area are Makanpur, Kakwan, Katra Aima, Mahua Derapur, Jalihapur, Hawaspur, Katra Bognipur, Vishayakpur and Rania. In Rania, which is an industrial area high fluoride contamination may be due anthropogenic activity. Fluoride shows significant strong positive correlation with EC (r = 0.326), TDS (r = 0.316), Na + (r =0.410), Cl-(r = 0.349) and SO 4 2-(r =0.245). Strong significant negative correlation of fluoride is observed with TH (r =-0.297), Ca 2+ (r =-0.253) and Mg 2+ (r =-0.223). Poor positive relation is observed with pH (r = 0.082), TA (r = 0.065), K + (r = 0.045), HCO 3-(r = 0.118) and poor negative correlation with CO 3 2-(r =-0.015) and Fe (r =-0.020). In order to further investigate and identify contributing sources on the basis of chemical signatures, factor analysis of the data was done. The analysis yielded four dominant factors and was expressed by data matrix variance of 67.68%.Present study advocate the fluoride enrichment of ground water is due to alkaline nature which led to increased sodium and bicarbonate concentration and decrease in calcium and magnesium concentration as a result of fluoride dissolution from fluoride bearing minerals.

Prevalence of dental fluorosis among school children residing in Kanpur City, Uttar Pradesh, India

“…The prevalence of fluoride-rich areas as reported from our studies match with that reported by Sharma et al [11,12,19] Since, no study has been conducted among school children in the area for the estimation of dental fluorosis, there a shortage of data to compare and to link. Hence, further studies in this regard are required, as the results of our study show a significant number of children affected with dental fluorosis.…”

“…[11,12] Several studies have been reported from the adjacent town of Unnao, whose results have shown that the area has high fluoride content in water. [18,19] Considering these data and a short distance between the two places, our curiosity led to this study. Our study was aimed to find out the prevalence of dental fluorosis among school children of Kanpur city, residing and consuming the groundwater since childhood.…”