Health Risk Assessment of Arsenic Contaminated Ground Water of Taluka Moro, District Naushahro Feroze, Sindh, Pakistan

This study is to report the occurrence of arsenic (As) in ground water samples of Taluka Moro, District Naushahro Feroze and to compute the health risk assessment of As. Total 52 groundwater samples collected from 17 union councils (UCs) of taluka Moro. The quality of groundwater assessed by analyzing the concentration of As and other physicochemical parameters. The results revealed that in 27 samples As was not detected, 13 samples contain As level within WHO permissible limit (10 ppb) whereas only 12 samples showed the As content above allowable limits of WHO. The maximum As concentration observed was 90 ppb in samples collected from UC lett and Moro city. Physico-chemical parameters such as pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), electric conductivity (EC), sulfate, phosphate, calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) determined in all samples. pH values in the water samples were found within WHO permissible limit, while TDS and EC result exceeded the WHO limits in eight samples. The reveals of sulfate, phosphate, Ca and Mg presented a similar trend to that of TDS and EC. Health risk assessment was calculated using formulae proposed by USEPA. Average daily dose (ADD), cancer risk (CR) and hazard quotient (HQ) value also figured. The study concluded that due to consumption of As-contaminated groundwater and high cancer risk values, the people of UCs Lett, Deparja, Moro city, Khalos, Kot Satabo, Jatoi, Lalia, Gachero, Kenchi Jageer, Manaheen and Fatoo Bala are at cancer risk.