Radiological and chemical toxicity due to ingestion of uranium in groundwater of district Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh

The present study is focused on assessing the uranium concentration in groundwater samples and its health risks. Groundwater samples have been collected from 22 different locations in Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh, India and analyzed for uranium using LED fluorimeter. Uranium concentration in the studied groundwater samples varies from 14.52 to 82.74 μg L^-1 with a mean value of 44.37 μg L^-1. The obtained average uranium concentration is higher than 30 μg L^-1, which is the Maximum Contamination Level (MCL) recommended by WHO, (2011). Radiological and chemical toxicity have been calculated for different isotopes of uranium. The average mortality and morbidity risk for the uranium isotopes ²³⁸U, ²³⁵U, and ²³⁴U are 2.7x10^-06, 1.62x10^-08, 1.22x10^-10 and 3.42 x 10^-6, 2.56x10^-08, 1.5X10^-8 respectively. An attempt has also been made to estimate the ingestion dose for different age groups. The measured values of uranium are compared with the safe level in drinking water as prescribed by various health and environmental protection agencies (WHO, (2004, 2011) USEPA, (1999, 2003, 2011) and AERB, (2004)). To check the water quality, physicochemical properties such as pH, conductance and total dissolved solids (TDS) have been further analyzed. (author)