Chemical characteristics and health hazards of heavy metals in shallow groundwater: case study Anloga community, Volta Region, Ghana
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Date
2019-03-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Abstract
Five water samples each were collected from six shallow wells which serve as source of drinking water at different locations
within the Anloga community of the Volta Region in Ghana. Samples were analyzed for physicochemical characteristics, and
human health risk associated with the consumption of heavy metals in the samples was also assessed. The results showed
that pH, EC, water hardness, fluoride and sulfate levels were below the maximum permissible levels recommended by the
WHO for drinking but chloride and nitrate levels in well A6
were above their respective WHO limits. Concentration of heavy
metals showed Cd and Pd toxicities in some of the wells since their concentrations were higher than the WHO accepted limit
for drinking water. Estimated non-carcinogenic health risks of the metals through ingestion were less than 1 in some of the
wells, indicating small to no health hazard; however, high non-carcinogenic risk was recorded in well 2, 3 and 5 indicating
a potential health hazard to the local residents. Health risk through dermal injection of the metals was found to be less than
1, indicating no health risk associated with water samples via dermal absorption. Cancer risk computed for Cd ranged from
1.82Eā02 in well A5
to 9.09Eā02 in well A1
and A6,
indicating that consumption of water from these wells could result in
an excess of 2ā9 cancer cases per 100 people. The risk of developing cancer from Pb as a result of consuming water from
wells A1,
A2
and A5
was estimated to be 3.69Eā06
Description
An article published by Springer International Publishing and also available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-019-0914-z
Keywords
Cancer, Contaminated water, Exposure, Health risk
Citation
Applied Water Science (2019) 9:36 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-019-0914-z