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Potential hazards of nitrate and fluoride in underground waters
Water Res Vol 17 No 3 pp 353-354, 1983 Printed m Great Britain All rights reserved
0043-1354/83/030353-02503000 Copyright © 1983 Pergamon Press Ltd
TECHNICAL NOTE P O T E N T I A L H A Z A R D S O F NITRATE A N D F L U O R I D E IN U N D E R G R O U N D WATERS B PAL Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Sod Sctence R B S College Blchpun. Agra-283105 India (Re~eu ed Mar~h 1980)
A~tract--Underground waters of the semi-arid tract of Agra region (In&a) were examined for their mtrate and fluoride concentration along with other chemical constituents The results Indicated that 40 and 49% of the waters contained injurious concentrations of mtrate and fluoride respectively for drinkmg water Only 284~o of the waters were useful for some crops because of excessively high mtrate concentrations (>100mg1-1) and 23 1% were harmful for common crops wzth respect to fluoride concentration ( > 10 mg 1-1) Generally. high sahmty waters had a high mtrate and fluoride content
INTRODUCTION Cattle feeds high in nitrate have been found to cause acute poisoning in cattle, sheep and other livestock, water c o n t a m i n a t e d w~th nitrate has contributed to or been responsible for poisoning of animals (Walton, 1951, M a d i s o n & Kenneth, 1964) Fluoride becomes toxic to a m m a l s and h u m a n beings when present at more than 1 m g l - 1 in drinking water (Galagan & Vermllhan. 1957) and Injurious to some of crops when present more than 10 mg 1-1 in solution (Leone et al 1948) The acute and chronic toxicity of fluoride in drinking waters was reviewed in Drinking Water and Health (National Academy of Sciences, 1977) With a scaroty of good waters (total sohds not more than 1500 mg 1-i) the use of saline water for drinking may cause gastro intestinal ~rrltatlon High concentrataons of nitrate (Trlpathl et a l , 1973) and fluoride (Kanwar & Mehta, 1968, Pahwal et a l , 1969, Sxngh & Slnslnwar, 1975) have been reported In ground water from different localities In ad&tlon waters from arid and semi-arid regions may contain toxic concentrations of b o r o n (Pal & Trlpathi, 1978) Therefore the saline waters of the semi-arid tract of the Agra region were examined chemically in detail to study the extent of nitrate and fluoride content
MATERIALS A N D METHODS
When the wells and tube wells were m maximum use, 113 water samples were collected m January 1975 from scattered locations of the Farah block of the region The water samples were collected in polythene bottles and analysed by the method of Richards (1954)
RESULT AND DISCUSSION The composition of the water samples is given in Table i Because of the scarcity of good water, such
highly saline waters have long been in use for growing some crops on light textured soils and a b o u t 55% having an EC of up to 6 m m h o s c m - 1 have even been used for drinking purpose according to the International Standards for Drinking Water (WHO, 1971) these waters are unfit for drinking with respect to their salt concentration Nitrate concentration in general varied from traces to 178 6 mg 1-1 with an average value of 65 3 mg 1- 1 The overall fluoride content ranged from traces to 21 0 mg 1-t with an average value of 6 8 mg 1- ~ A range of traces to 18 4 mg 1- 1 of fluoride was reported by Slngh & Slnslnwar (1975) In the waters of Rajasthan The variation in nitrate and fluoride content of waters with respect to the EC range of waters is presented in Table 2 The concentration of nitrate was found to increase generally with increasing EC of underground waters, confirming the earlier work of Trxpathl et al (1973) Likewise, higher concentration of fluoride was associated with higher salinity of waters as also reported by Pahwal et al
Table l Chemical characteristics of underground waters Characteristics EC (mmhos cm -1) pH SAR Cations (me 1- 1) Na ÷ Mg 2+ Ca 2 + K÷ Amons (me 1-1) C1SO ] HCO3 CO32NO3 (mg 1-1) F - (mg 1-1)
353
Mlmmum
Maximum
Average
12 74 41
220 88 35 3
65 79 11 9
82 27 14 Traces
202 2 624 39 5 41
40 0 157 71 11
106 10 0 80 Traces Traces Traces
2110 75 6 12 8 32 178 6 21 0
496 11 0 47 05 65 3 68
~,4
I echna.al Note Table 2 Concentration of nitrate and fluoride m different E( r,ingc,, ol underground ~at~.rs
ECranges of waters Immhos cm - ~)
Number ol water samples
Minimum
Maximum
Average
Minimum
Maximum
.... A',eragL
1 2 2~-1 4 6 6 8 8 10 10 15 > 15
19 20 22 20 22 6 4
62 Traces 24 8 50 Traces 149 546
248 89 3 109 I 148 8 178 6 1587 148 8
t8 1 24 8 460 70 2 88 8 955 1006
Trat.es Trat.e~ Traces Traces Traces 15 25
I~ 12 5 lS 0 20 5 21 0 18o 1~ ~
o6 ~ ,', ~3 ", '~ ;', ~, IOl 10 1
NO~ Imgl
(1969) Statistically, n i t r a t e a n d fluoride c o n t e n t s slgm f i c a n t l y c o r r e l a t e d with t h e E C o f u n d e r g r o u n d waters A n e x a m m a t m n o f f r e q u e n c y d l s m b u u o n of w a t e r s a m p l e s m &fferent g r o u p s of m t r a t e a n d fluoride i n d i c a t e d t h a t m d r i n k i n g w a t e r s 86 8°0 of t h e s a m p l e s h a d n i t r a t e o f m o r e t h a n 10 m g 1- l a n d in a b o u t 40°,, of t h e c a s e s t h e c o n c e n t r a t m n e x c e e d e d even the h m l t o f 45 m g 1- l o f t h e I n t e r n a t m n a l S t a n d a r d s for D r i n k m g W a t e r ( W H O , 1971) I n s u c h h i g h m t r a t e w a t e r s t h e p o s s i b l e f o r m a t m n o f m t r o s a m m e s b e c a u s e of their c a r c m o g e m c p o t e n t m l a r e a p o s s i b l e h a z a r d to h u m a n h e a l t h H o w e v e r , w a t e r s c o n t a i n i n g excessively hxgh n t t r a t e ( m o r e t h a n 100 m g 1- l ) m a y be useful for s o m e c r o p s s u c h as t o b a c c o ( M e h r o t r a , 1969) a n d w h e a t (Dhlr, 1977) a n d o t h e r c r o p s w i t h i n s a h m t y t o l e r a n c e hm~ts If 1 m s 1-1 ~s c o n s i d e r e d as t h e safe limit of fluoride for d r i n k i n g p u r p o s e t h e n 49% o f t h e w a t e r s were n o n p o t a b l e O n t h e o t h e r h a n d ff l0 m g 1- l ~s t a k e n as a safe ltmlt for c o m m o n c r o p s ( L e o n e et al, 1948), t h e n 23 1°o of t h e w a t e r s cont a m e d i n j u r i o u s c o n c e n t r a t i o n o f fluorxde S o m e t~mes t h e r e ~s n o t a & r e c t effect o f fluoride o n c r o p p l a n t s b u t w h e n t h e s e are c o n s u m e d by cattle, d e n t a l a n d skeletal fluorosls m a y result T h e i n j u r i o u s effect of fluoride w o u l d be addxtlve ff t h e w a t e r s u p p l y also c o n t a i n e d fluoride
REFERENCES
Dhlr R P (1977) Sahne waters--their potentiality as a sources of ~rrtgation Desert~ficatmn and ~ts control ICAR, Ne~ Delhi 15, 130-148
1)
t
tmgt
~)
Galagan D J & Vermlhan J R (1957) Determining optim u m fluoride concentrations Publ HIth Rep Wash 72, 491-503 Kanwar J S & Mehta K K (1968) Toxicity of fluorine in some well waters of Haryana and PunJab hTduo) J agrtc Sol 38, 881-886 Leone L A Brennan E G & Dames R R (1948t Some effects of fluorine on peach tomato and buck wheat when absorbed through the roots Sod Stl 66, 259 266 Madison J W & Kenneth L D (1964) Nitrate accumulation In crops and nitrate poisoning m animals 4& Agron 16, 197-247 Mehrotra C L t19691 Water quaht) and use of sahnc water for crop growth in Uttar Pradesh J Indian Sot Soil Sti 17, 441M45 National Academ) of Sciences (1977) Drinking Water and Health pp 279 283 National, Academ~ of Sciences Washington, DC Pal B & Trlpathl B R (1978) Quality of trngatmn ~ater ,and its effect on SOl[ characteristics in semi-desert tract of Uttar Pradesh V Potential hazards of boron In irrigation waters Indian J 4yron 23, 192-195 Pahwal K V, Mehta K K & Gandhi A P (1969) Fluorine in lrrigatmn waters of Bhflwara District of Rajasthan Indian J aqrle &t 39, 1083-1087 Rlchards L A (Ed)(1954) Dla(¢nosts and Improvement o/ Saline and Al!~ah Sods U S Department of Agriculture H a n d b o o k 60 Slngh V & Smslnwar P S (1975) Note on the toxlotv of fluorine m ground waters of Bharatpur District of RaJasthan Indian J aqrt~ Scl 45, 495 497 Trlpathl B R , Smgh B & Rathore M S (1973) Q u a h t v ot irrigation water and ~ts effect on soil characteristics m the semi-desert tract of Uttar P r a d e s h - - I I I The characteristics of traditionally accepted water types Indian d 4qron 18, 366-37l Walton G (1951) Sur~ey ot literature relating to mtant methemoglobinemls due to mtrate contaminated ~at~.r 4m J publ Hlth 41,986 995 World Health Organization (1971) International Standard~ ]or Drmltmy Water pp 35 38 W H O Geneva
0043-1354/83/030353-02503000 Copyright © 1983 Pergamon Press Ltd
TECHNICAL NOTE P O T E N T I A L H A Z A R D S O F NITRATE A N D F L U O R I D E IN U N D E R G R O U N D WATERS B PAL Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Sod Sctence R B S College Blchpun. Agra-283105 India (Re~eu ed Mar~h 1980)
A~tract--Underground waters of the semi-arid tract of Agra region (In&a) were examined for their mtrate and fluoride concentration along with other chemical constituents The results Indicated that 40 and 49% of the waters contained injurious concentrations of mtrate and fluoride respectively for drinkmg water Only 284~o of the waters were useful for some crops because of excessively high mtrate concentrations (>100mg1-1) and 23 1% were harmful for common crops wzth respect to fluoride concentration ( > 10 mg 1-1) Generally. high sahmty waters had a high mtrate and fluoride content
INTRODUCTION Cattle feeds high in nitrate have been found to cause acute poisoning in cattle, sheep and other livestock, water c o n t a m i n a t e d w~th nitrate has contributed to or been responsible for poisoning of animals (Walton, 1951, M a d i s o n & Kenneth, 1964) Fluoride becomes toxic to a m m a l s and h u m a n beings when present at more than 1 m g l - 1 in drinking water (Galagan & Vermllhan. 1957) and Injurious to some of crops when present more than 10 mg 1-1 in solution (Leone et al 1948) The acute and chronic toxicity of fluoride in drinking waters was reviewed in Drinking Water and Health (National Academy of Sciences, 1977) With a scaroty of good waters (total sohds not more than 1500 mg 1-i) the use of saline water for drinking may cause gastro intestinal ~rrltatlon High concentrataons of nitrate (Trlpathl et a l , 1973) and fluoride (Kanwar & Mehta, 1968, Pahwal et a l , 1969, Sxngh & Slnslnwar, 1975) have been reported In ground water from different localities In ad&tlon waters from arid and semi-arid regions may contain toxic concentrations of b o r o n (Pal & Trlpathi, 1978) Therefore the saline waters of the semi-arid tract of the Agra region were examined chemically in detail to study the extent of nitrate and fluoride content
MATERIALS A N D METHODS
When the wells and tube wells were m maximum use, 113 water samples were collected m January 1975 from scattered locations of the Farah block of the region The water samples were collected in polythene bottles and analysed by the method of Richards (1954)
RESULT AND DISCUSSION The composition of the water samples is given in Table i Because of the scarcity of good water, such
highly saline waters have long been in use for growing some crops on light textured soils and a b o u t 55% having an EC of up to 6 m m h o s c m - 1 have even been used for drinking purpose according to the International Standards for Drinking Water (WHO, 1971) these waters are unfit for drinking with respect to their salt concentration Nitrate concentration in general varied from traces to 178 6 mg 1-1 with an average value of 65 3 mg 1- 1 The overall fluoride content ranged from traces to 21 0 mg 1-t with an average value of 6 8 mg 1- ~ A range of traces to 18 4 mg 1- 1 of fluoride was reported by Slngh & Slnslnwar (1975) In the waters of Rajasthan The variation in nitrate and fluoride content of waters with respect to the EC range of waters is presented in Table 2 The concentration of nitrate was found to increase generally with increasing EC of underground waters, confirming the earlier work of Trxpathl et al (1973) Likewise, higher concentration of fluoride was associated with higher salinity of waters as also reported by Pahwal et al
Table l Chemical characteristics of underground waters Characteristics EC (mmhos cm -1) pH SAR Cations (me 1- 1) Na ÷ Mg 2+ Ca 2 + K÷ Amons (me 1-1) C1SO ] HCO3 CO32NO3 (mg 1-1) F - (mg 1-1)
353
Mlmmum
Maximum
Average
12 74 41
220 88 35 3
65 79 11 9
82 27 14 Traces
202 2 624 39 5 41
40 0 157 71 11
106 10 0 80 Traces Traces Traces
2110 75 6 12 8 32 178 6 21 0
496 11 0 47 05 65 3 68
~,4
I echna.al Note Table 2 Concentration of nitrate and fluoride m different E( r,ingc,, ol underground ~at~.rs
ECranges of waters Immhos cm - ~)
Number ol water samples
Minimum
Maximum
Average
Minimum
Maximum
.... A',eragL
1 2 2~-1 4 6 6 8 8 10 10 15 > 15
19 20 22 20 22 6 4
62 Traces 24 8 50 Traces 149 546
248 89 3 109 I 148 8 178 6 1587 148 8
t8 1 24 8 460 70 2 88 8 955 1006
Trat.es Trat.e~ Traces Traces Traces 15 25
I~ 12 5 lS 0 20 5 21 0 18o 1~ ~
o6 ~ ,', ~3 ", '~ ;', ~, IOl 10 1
NO~ Imgl
(1969) Statistically, n i t r a t e a n d fluoride c o n t e n t s slgm f i c a n t l y c o r r e l a t e d with t h e E C o f u n d e r g r o u n d waters A n e x a m m a t m n o f f r e q u e n c y d l s m b u u o n of w a t e r s a m p l e s m &fferent g r o u p s of m t r a t e a n d fluoride i n d i c a t e d t h a t m d r i n k i n g w a t e r s 86 8°0 of t h e s a m p l e s h a d n i t r a t e o f m o r e t h a n 10 m g 1- l a n d in a b o u t 40°,, of t h e c a s e s t h e c o n c e n t r a t m n e x c e e d e d even the h m l t o f 45 m g 1- l o f t h e I n t e r n a t m n a l S t a n d a r d s for D r i n k m g W a t e r ( W H O , 1971) I n s u c h h i g h m t r a t e w a t e r s t h e p o s s i b l e f o r m a t m n o f m t r o s a m m e s b e c a u s e of their c a r c m o g e m c p o t e n t m l a r e a p o s s i b l e h a z a r d to h u m a n h e a l t h H o w e v e r , w a t e r s c o n t a i n i n g excessively hxgh n t t r a t e ( m o r e t h a n 100 m g 1- l ) m a y be useful for s o m e c r o p s s u c h as t o b a c c o ( M e h r o t r a , 1969) a n d w h e a t (Dhlr, 1977) a n d o t h e r c r o p s w i t h i n s a h m t y t o l e r a n c e hm~ts If 1 m s 1-1 ~s c o n s i d e r e d as t h e safe limit of fluoride for d r i n k i n g p u r p o s e t h e n 49% o f t h e w a t e r s were n o n p o t a b l e O n t h e o t h e r h a n d ff l0 m g 1- l ~s t a k e n as a safe ltmlt for c o m m o n c r o p s ( L e o n e et al, 1948), t h e n 23 1°o of t h e w a t e r s cont a m e d i n j u r i o u s c o n c e n t r a t i o n o f fluorxde S o m e t~mes t h e r e ~s n o t a & r e c t effect o f fluoride o n c r o p p l a n t s b u t w h e n t h e s e are c o n s u m e d by cattle, d e n t a l a n d skeletal fluorosls m a y result T h e i n j u r i o u s effect of fluoride w o u l d be addxtlve ff t h e w a t e r s u p p l y also c o n t a i n e d fluoride
REFERENCES
Dhlr R P (1977) Sahne waters--their potentiality as a sources of ~rrtgation Desert~ficatmn and ~ts control ICAR, Ne~ Delhi 15, 130-148
1)
t
tmgt
~)
Galagan D J & Vermlhan J R (1957) Determining optim u m fluoride concentrations Publ HIth Rep Wash 72, 491-503 Kanwar J S & Mehta K K (1968) Toxicity of fluorine in some well waters of Haryana and PunJab hTduo) J agrtc Sol 38, 881-886 Leone L A Brennan E G & Dames R R (1948t Some effects of fluorine on peach tomato and buck wheat when absorbed through the roots Sod Stl 66, 259 266 Madison J W & Kenneth L D (1964) Nitrate accumulation In crops and nitrate poisoning m animals 4& Agron 16, 197-247 Mehrotra C L t19691 Water quaht) and use of sahnc water for crop growth in Uttar Pradesh J Indian Sot Soil Sti 17, 441M45 National Academ) of Sciences (1977) Drinking Water and Health pp 279 283 National, Academ~ of Sciences Washington, DC Pal B & Trlpathl B R (1978) Quality of trngatmn ~ater ,and its effect on SOl[ characteristics in semi-desert tract of Uttar Pradesh V Potential hazards of boron In irrigation waters Indian J 4yron 23, 192-195 Pahwal K V, Mehta K K & Gandhi A P (1969) Fluorine in lrrigatmn waters of Bhflwara District of Rajasthan Indian J aqrle &t 39, 1083-1087 Rlchards L A (Ed)(1954) Dla(¢nosts and Improvement o/ Saline and Al!~ah Sods U S Department of Agriculture H a n d b o o k 60 Slngh V & Smslnwar P S (1975) Note on the toxlotv of fluorine m ground waters of Bharatpur District of RaJasthan Indian J aqrt~ Scl 45, 495 497 Trlpathl B R , Smgh B & Rathore M S (1973) Q u a h t v ot irrigation water and ~ts effect on soil characteristics m the semi-desert tract of Uttar P r a d e s h - - I I I The characteristics of traditionally accepted water types Indian d 4qron 18, 366-37l Walton G (1951) Sur~ey ot literature relating to mtant methemoglobinemls due to mtrate contaminated ~at~.r 4m J publ Hlth 41,986 995 World Health Organization (1971) International Standard~ ]or Drmltmy Water pp 35 38 W H O Geneva