Spatial distribution of manganese in groundwater and associated human health risk in the southern part of the Bengal Basin

The scarcity of arsenic and iron-free safe drinking water is an alarming issue in the southern part of the Bengal Basin. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the spatial distribution of manganese (Mn) concentration in the shallow and deep groundwater and its associated health risks for the children and adults of entire southern Bengal Basin. The Mn concentration in the groundwater varied from 0 to 5.4 mg/L with an average value of 0.47 mg/L that exceeded the WHO's and Bangladesh drinking water guideline values of 0.4 and 0.1 mg/L, respectively. Mn concentration in the shallow wells overrode the deep ones. About 23% of the shallow wells and 11% of deep wells exceeded the WHO's safety limit of Mn concentration for human health. The human health risk related to Mn contamination was estimated by computing the average daily dosage (ADD) and hazard quotient (HQ) values for children and adults. The average computed HQ values found 0.108 and 0.099 for children and adults, respectively. The HQ values delimitated that children are posing a higher risk compared to the adults for the shallow wells. Deep wells were found risk-free for both children and adults. The areal coverage of shallow wells with HQ values > 1 was minimal compared to the total study area and covered only a small portion of Patuakhali and Barguna districts. The rest of the site does not pose any health risk due to Mn contamination for children and adults.

Automated summary

The study revealed that there is an issue of elevated manganese concentration in the deep groundwater in the southern part of the Bengal Basin, with some deep wells already exceeding the safety limit set by the World Health Organization. Children are more susceptible to its health hazards compared to adults. However, overall, groundwater contamination in the area does not pose a widespread health risk for children and adults.