Hydrogeochemical Characteristics And Water Quality Assessment Of Shallow Groundwater Around Fuyang City

Fuyang City is located in the northwest of Anhui Province,China.Groundwater is one of the major resources of water supply in Fuyang City,it plays a significant role in maintaining industrial,agricultural,and domestic water.The increasing demand for groundwater for different uses(e.g.,domestic,agriculture,and industrial)has led to increased deterioration of groundwater quality and contamination;hence,prolonged exposure to contaminated groundwater also threatens human health,especially from nitrogen pollution.So,it is essential to conduct a comprehensive analysis of hydrogeochemical characteristics and evaluate groundwater quality accurately for water supply purposes and unremittingly essential to monitor and maintain the safety of waters in the study.The main objective of this study is to estimate hydrogechemical characteristics,groundwater quality assessment for suitability of drinking and irrigational purpose,and its potential health risks of nitrogen pollution around Fuyang city.The main work and findings of the study are as follows:(a)Hydrogeochemical Characteristics Analysis and formation mechanisms:By using statistical techniques,the main factors affecting groundwater chemistry are determined.Accordingly,statistical analysis shows Ca²⁺is the abundance of cation,followed by Na⁺,Mg^2+,and K⁺while HCO₃^-is the abundance of anion,followed by Cl^-and SO₄^2-.Piper diagram was used to study the hydrogeochemical facies of groundwater,and Gibbs diagram also important to determine the factors that control the composition of groundwater.In both of cation and anion fields,rock weathering dominates as the controlling factor for the groundwater chemistry as depicted by the Gibbs diagrams,while significant effects of evaporation were also observed.Results showed that hydrochemical facies in the study area was predominantly the Ca²⁺type in the groundwater,while HCO₃^-dominates in anions field(lower right-hand triangle)of piper diagram and signifying the weathering of the carbonate dominated lithology is the most important factor controlling groundwater chemistry.(b)Appraisal of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation:In view of this,a total of 34 samples were collected from shallow groundwater private wells,and 16parameters were analyzed for each groundwater sample and analyzed for understanding the drinking and irrigation suitability with special reference to fuzzy comprehensive assessment and potential health risks assessment.In this study,the fuzzy comprehensive method was applied to assess the overall groundwater quality and treats main pollutants based on weights of evaluation factors in each sample site,and it is helpful to remove the influence of some uncertain factors.Out of 16parameters,nine parameters of groundwater samples were selected to compute fuzzy comprehensive values.The study found that 85.3%of groundwater quality sample belongs to good and fair quality,and suitable for drinking purpose,while 14.7%of groundwater samples classified as poor and very poor quality,it is unfit for drinking water quality,and NO₃–N,TH,TDS,Fe,and Mn are of high potential to affect the quality of potable drinking water.These are mainly derived from anthropogenic pollutants,predominantly due to uncontrolled agricultural and industrial activities,as well as some natural processes.And the area with poor and very poor quality water was mainly observed in the Chahua,Datian,Chengji,central and southeast areas.Considering SAR,Na%,and PI index,the majority of shallow groundwater samples were suitable for irrigation purposes.However,20.59%of samples were found to be doubtful for irrigation because of the high sodium content in the water.(c)Human health risk assessment:The noncarcinogenic risks were estimated using the human health risk assessment method recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency(USEPA)via drinking water intake pathways around Fuyang City,China.The concentration of NH₄–N,NO₃–N,and NO₂–N varies from0.04 to 0.24,0.5 to 92.44,and 0.00 to 0.22 mg/L,respectively.The highest concentration of nitrate reported in this study was 92.44 mg/L,which was beyond the WHO guidelines(50 mg/l)and Chinese national standards(20 mg/l).The non-carcinogenic risk of nitrate indicates that 8.82%of groundwater samples surpass the permissible limit recommended by the USEPA for both adults and children.Furthermore,children are more vulnerable than adults to nitrate contamination.This study may provide the local authority with insights into making scientific decisions for exploiting groundwater in a sustainable manner so as to protect public health.