Toxicology Risk Assessment of Uranium in Drinking water of Ganderbal and Budgam Districts of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

The presence of uranium concentration in drinking water has been a serious issue for a long time and can accord elegance to a larger extent. The current study has assessed the amount of uranium present in groundwater samples collected from 35 locations in the Jammu and Kashmir districts of Ganderbal and Budgam. Two distinct methods have been used to analyze uranium: the LED fluorimeter and High-Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (HR-ICPMS). Using the HR-ICPMS technique, the uranium concentration in water samples from the research area ranges from 0.40 to 4.88 µg l⁻¹. Uranium concentration analyzed by two techniques of all water samples are well within the permissible limits of World Health Organization (WHO) and maximum contaminant level of United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) 30 µg l⁻¹. The estimated annual effective dose varies in the range of 6.7 × 10^–7 to 8.1 × 10^–6 µSv y⁻¹. The radiological average cancer mortality and morbidity risks were found to be 4.02 × 10^–6 and 6.22 × 10^–6 respectively. Lifetime Average Daily Dose (LADD) has been calculated which lies in the range of 0.023–0.282 µg kg⁻¹ day⁻¹. The analyzed hazard quotient for all the samples has been found less than unity. Also, physico-chemical properties of water samples and their correlation with uranium content have been estimated. The present study forms the basis for the future health risk assessment of the Ganderbal and Budgam provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]