The basic bed rocks of central India are contaminated with fluorite minerals. The overuse of groundwater for irrigation causes increased mineralization of F- in the groundwater. This contaminated groundwater is widely used for drinking and other household purposes. The excess F- is excreted through urine of animals. In this work, the exposure of contaminated groundwater in domestic animals of Dongargarh city, Chhattisgarh, India is studied. The symptoms of fluorosis diseases in the domestic animals i.e. cattle and buffalo are surveyed. The quality and sources of the contaminants of the groundwater are discussed.
Abnormal levels of F− in the groundwater are common in India due to weathering of the fractured hard rock pegmatite veins composing of minerals viz. topaz, fluorite fluorapatite, villuamite, cryolite, ferro magnesium silicate, etc. [
Dongargarh (21.18842˚N and 80.75875˚E) is a tourist city in central India with population of 0.1 million inclusive of neighboring villages. The town was settled near majestic mountains. The contaminated groundwater is widely used for drinking, cooking, washing and agricultural purposes. Four minerals i.e. oligoclase, rectorite, kaolinite and feldspar have been identified in the studied area. Feldspar is one of the most dominant mineral constituents of all the above-mentioned rocks, which is highly susceptible to chemical weathering and produces various types of clay minerals [
Forty eight groundwater samples were collected from the tube wells of the Dongargarh city from ≈100 km−2 area in the post monsoon (January) and pre monsoon (May) period, 2014 by using established method,
[
The first morning urine sample (100 ml) was collected in plastic bottles containing 0.2 g EDTA. Total 40 urine samples of cattle and buffalo were collected in January, 2014. They were shipped to the laboratory in insulated container at about 4˚C and refrigerated at ?20˚C until use.
The total dissolved solid (TDS) value was determined by evaporation of the filtered water sample (through glass fiber filter) by drying at constant weight. The total hardness (TH) and total alkalinity (TA) values were analyzed by titration methods [
The ion (i.e. Cl−,
The water quality index (WQI) of the groundwater was computed by using the weighed arithmetic method. The value of 6 parameters i.e. pH, DO, EC, TDS, TA and
where:
qn = Quality rating of the nth water quality parameter;
Vn = Estimated value of the nth parameter of a given water;
Sn = Standard permissible value of the nth parameter;
Vio = Ideal value of the nth parameter of pure water (i.e., 0 for all other parameters except pH and dissolved oxygen (7.0 and 14.6 mg/L, respectively);
Wn = Unit weight for the nth parameter;
K = Proportionality constant.
Multivariate statistical analysis such as factor analysis (FA) was employed for the source apportionment. The windows statistical software Statistica-7.1 was used for the multivariate statistical calculation.
The geological characteristics of the tube wells is summarized in
The physical characteristics of the groundwater in the post monsoon period is shown in
S. No. | Location | Age, Yr | Depth, m | T˚C | pH | EC, µS/cm | RP, mV | DO, mg/L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mahavir Para | 20 | 75 | 21 | 7.3 | 831 | 283 | 8.8 |
2 | Goal Bajar | 1 | 82 | 21 | 6.1 | 1017 | 310 | 8.9 |
3 | Bhagat Shih Ward | 3 | 75 | 21 | 8.1 | 967 | 237 | 8.6 |
4 | Civil Line | 7 | 69 | 22 | 6.2 | 991 | 311 | 8.8 |
5 | Shubhash Ward | 1 | 90 | 22 | 6.5 | 1013 | 319 | 8.9 |
6 | Thana Chowk | 7 | 69 | 22 | 6.4 | 1139 | 313 | 8.9 |
7 | Kachari Chowk | 12 | 75 | 21 | 6.6 | 603 | 304 | 8.8 |
8 | Thethwar Para | 12 | 82 | 21 | 6.5 | 344 | 309 | 8.7 |
9 | BUS Stand | 25 | 75 | 22 | 6.0 | 609 | 319 | 8.8 |
10 | Solh Para | 2 | 105 | 22 | 6.1 | 982 | 330 | 8.8 |
11 | Ek-batti Char Rasta | 10 | 66 | 23 | 8.0 | 733 | 265 | 9.1 |
12 | Kumhar Para | 15 | 54 | 22 | 6.5 | 385 | 269 | 9.0 |
13 | School | 10 | 69 | 22 | 6.3 | 276 | 297 | 9.2 |
14 | Kumhar Para | 1 | 75 | 22 | 6.9 | 349 | 298 | 8.8 |
15 | Ambedkar Ward | 1 | 90 | 23 | 7.3 | 613 | 254 | 8.9 |
16 | Station | 3 | 92 | 23 | 7.6 | 888 | 246 | 8.8 |
17 | Bheem Nagar | 4 | 105 | 22 | 7.3 | 1451 | 254 | 8.7 |
18 | Utkarsh Nagar | 8 | 110 | 22 | 7.3 | 1329 | 290 | 8.9 |
19 | Kalka Para | 10 | 75 | 22 | 7.2 | 1331 | 293 | 8.7 |
20 | Indra Nagar | 15 | 60 | 23 | 7.4 | 969 | 277 | 9.0 |
21 | Rajiv Nagar | 6 | 62 | 21 | 7.1 | 1178 | 304 | 8.7 |
22 | Sanjay Nagar | 10 | 66 | 22 | 7.2 | 1062 | 285 | 9.1 |
23 | Khuta Para | 12 | 72 | 22 | 7.2 | 951 | 302 | 8.4 |
24 | Danteshwari Para | 10 | 75 | 23 | 7.4 | 670 | 290 | 8.8 |
25 | Kharka Tola | 10 | 69 | 22 | 7.9 | 1033 | 282 | 9.0 |
26 | Tikra Para | 4 | 84 | 22 | 7.7 | 858 | 276 | 8.9 |
27 | Kedar Badhi | 23 | 75 | 21 | 7.6 | 1014 | 286 | 8.8 |
28 | Badhiya Tola | 30 | 82 | 23 | 7.1 | 1199 | 288 | 9.0 |
29 | Raka Panchayat | 24 | 90 | 22 | 7.2 | 637 | 275 | 9.0 |
30 | Raka-2 | 50 | 75 | 21 | 7.2 | 322 | 291 | 9.1 |
31 | Raka-3 | 3 | 92 | 21 | 7.1 | 1202 | 291 | 8.9 |
32 | Murmunda-1 | 4 | 84 | 22 | 7.2 | 817 | 292 | 8.8 |
33 | Murmunda-2 | 5 | 75 | 22 | 7.2 | 687 | 285 | 9.0 |
34 | Murmunda-3 | 3 | 69 | 22 | 7.3 | 735 | 283 | 9.1 |
35 | Murpal-1 | 10 | 45 | 22 | 7.3 | 539 | 276 | 8.9 |
36 | Murpal-2 | 4 | 56 | 23 | 7.2 | 625 | 299 | 9.0 |
37 | Murpal-3 | 6 | 64 | 23 | 7.4 | 1938 | 277 | 8.7 |
38 | Jagra | 2 | 75 | 22 | 7.4 | 221 | 272 | 8.9 |
39 | Badhmudh Par-1 | 5 | 72 | 22 | 7.6 | 623 | 278 | 8.6 |
40 | Badhmudhpar-2 | 21 | 72 | 21 | 7.5 | 707 | 276 | 8.7 |
41 | Mudhpara Nala-1 | 7 | 75 | 22 | 7.8 | 1053 | 287 | 9.0 |
42 | Mudhpara Nala-2 | 12 | 75 | 21 | 7.8 | 1057 | 272 | 8.9 |
43 | Dundera-1 | 5 | 66 | 23 | 7.7 | 895 | 275 | 9.0 |
44 | Dundera-2 | 20 | 69 | 22 | 7.6 | 1057 | 280 | 8.9 |
45 | SBI Bank | 10 | 90 | 22 | 7.2 | 605 | 294 | 8.9 |
46 | Tappa Road | 20 | 75 | 22 | 7.8 | 785 | 262 | 9.0 |
47 | Mudhkhusra | 10 | 66 | 21 | 7.3 | 681 | 269 | 9.1 |
48 | Shivnikunj | 10 | 75 | 22 | 7.7 | 1373 | 272 | 9.0 |
RP value of water was marked to be just of a half of recommended value of 600 mV.
The chemical characteristics of the groundwater in the post monsoon period is shown in
The chemical data for the pre monsoon period, 2014 is presented in
The factor analysis of data has extracted six factors which explained 77.25% of the variance in the data set. The loadings of variables, eigenvalues and cumulative variance for each factor are shown in
The WQI of the water in the post monsoon period was ranged from 22 - 226 with mean value of 97 ± 12. The value of TDS, TA, TH, F− and
Chronic ingestion of fluoride water in endemic areas leads to development of fluorosis in the animal e.g. dental discoloration, difficulty in mastication, bony lesions, lameness, disability and mortality [
Significant factor loading in bold >0.7.
in their urine samples were measured and presented in Table 6. The concentration of F− in the buffalo and cattle urines was ranged from 18 - 52 and 26 - 58 mg/L with mean value of 31 ± 4 and 41 ± 4 mg/L, respectively. At least 7 - 10 folds higher F− content in the urine of animals was marked, may be due intake of higher dose of F-contaminated water and food. The higher fluorosis prevalence rate was observed in the cattle than buffalo, Figures 4-6.
DF = Dental fluorosis, SF = Skin fluorosis, TF = Toe fluorosis, HF = Horn fluorosis, L = Lesion.
The groundwater of Dongargarh is contaminated with F− at dangerous levels due to mineralization of the bed rock F− in the water. The WQI index of water was found to be ≈100, making water unsafe for dinking purposes. The F− levels in urine of cattle and buffalo were found several folds higher than recommended value of 4 mg/L. Around 5% domestic animals of the studied were suffered with different types of fluorosis.
We are thankful to the UGC, New Delhi for awarding Rajiv Gandhi Fellowship to one of the author: NSD.