Srinivasan, R and Pandit, SA and Karunakara, N and Salim, D and Kumara, KS and Kumar, MR and Khatei, G and Ramkumar, KD (2021) High uranium concentration in groundwater used for drinking in parts of eastern Karnataka, India. In: Current Science, 121 (11). pp. 1459-1469.
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Abstract
The limits recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) of India for uranium concentration in drinking water are 30 µg/l and 60 µg/l respectively. The present study on uranium concentration in groundwater used for drinking purposes in 73 villages of Karnataka, India, shows that in 57 villages uranium concentration is more than 30 µg/l, including 48 villages where it exceeds 60 µg/l. Thus in 78 and 66 of the villages studied, uranium concentration exceeds permissible limits given by WHO and AERB respectively. It is alarming to note that in one village each in Tumkur and Chitradurga districts, five in Kolar and seven in Chikkaballapura districts, uranium concentration is in thousands of micrograms per litre. None of the bore-wells from which water has been sampled is anywhere in the vicinity of nuclear facilities or urban waste disposal channels. Thus, the observed uranium contamination is considered to be geogenic. Previous geological studies have shown that the eastern portion of Karnataka is a part of the Neoarchean Eastern Dharwar Craton dominated by large ion lithophile element-rich K-feldspar granites and gneisses with higher abundance of radioactive elements (uranium and thorium) compared to the Mesoarchean tonalite-trondhjemitegneisses and granitoids widely distributed in the Western Dharwar Craton.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Current Science |
| Publisher: | Indian Academy of Sciences |
| Additional Information: | The copyright for this article belongs to the Authors. |
| Keywords: | Dharwar Craton; geogenic contamination; groundwater; uranium |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change |
| Date Deposited: | 23 May 2023 04:15 |
| Last Modified: | 23 May 2023 04:15 |
| URI: | https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/81723 |
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