Geochemical and health risk evaluation of fluoride rich groundwater in Sattenapalle Region, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India

To assess the geochemical mechanisms of fluoride occurrence in the groundwater and its impact on human health, groundwater samples collected from the Sattenapalle Region, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India were analyzed for various chemical parameters. Results show that the groundwater quality is of alkaline in nature, which is mainly characterized by Na-HCO3 facies. According to the groundwater quality index, 75% and 25% of the groundwater sampling points come under the poor and very poor groundwater quality categories for drinking purpose, respectively. The fluoride content varies from 1.3 to 12.9 mg/L, with 75% of the groundwater sampling points exceeding the drinking water quality limit of 1.5 mg/L. The study on Ca2++Mg2+ vs. HCO+SO Na++K+ vs. TC, Na+ vs. Cl HCO vs. TC, trilinear diagrams and CA indices specifies the soil-water-rock interactions together with dissolution, ion exchange and evaporation as the dominant controlling processes that affect the groundwater chemistry. The non-carcinogenic risk is from 0.83 to 9.77, exceeding its acceptable limit of one in 75%, 90% and 100% of the groundwater samples with respect to men, women and children, respectively, depending upon their body weights. Remedial measures are suggested to reduce the health risk in the study region.