Assessment of drinking water quality and human health risks in the tehsils of Jamrud and Landikotal, Khyber Agency, Pakistan
Keywords:
Drinking water quality; Heavy metals; Health hazards; FATA; Pakistan.Abstract
The concentrations of various pollutants in drinking water (surface and groundwater) were investigated for their contamination and associated health risk, if any, in the mountainous terrain of the Khyber Agency, Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Water samples were collected from different sources (tube wells and springs) used for drinking purposes, installed by Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) in the study area, composed of Tehsils of Jamrud and Landikotal in Khyber Agency. The physico-chemical parameters such as color, odor, taste, turbidity and pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), nitrite (NO3-), chloride (Cl-), sulfate (SO4-), alkalinity, and hardness, sodium (Na) and potassium (K) were observed within their respective permissible limits when compared with the standards set by the WHO. However, the concentrations of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) exceeded the maximum permissible limits in some of the samples collected from Tehsil Landikotal and Jamrud. Heavy metals such as cobalt (Co), cupper (Cu), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) were below respective detection limits while the concentrations of zinc (Zn), iron (Fe) and chromium (Cr) were within the respective limits of WHO. However, the concentration of cadmium (Cd) was higher than the WHO limit in various water samples collected from Tehsil Landikotal. Daily chronic intake (CDI) and hazard quotient (HQ) indices were tabulated for heavy metals to measure the human health risks. The CDI values were in order of Zn > Fe > Cd > Cr. The HQ indices values were in order of Zn > Cd > Fe > Cr. The values of HQ were less than 1 which indicates no human health risks. The drinking water obtained from tube wells and springs of two tehsils (Jamrud and Landikotal) of Khyber Agency were found suitable for the drinking purpose as far as the chemical constituents are concerned.
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