Evaluation of uranium content and annual ingestion dose in the surface and ground water bodies of Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India

Uranium, naturally occurring radionuclide is chemotoxic and nephrotoxic beyond acceptable limit. The presence of uranium beyond acceptable limit in surface and ground water, adversely affecting people's health. In the present investigation, the uranium concentration in surface and ground water of Chittorgarh, Rajasthan was studied along with the physico-chemical parameters of water (n = 87). The ground water was further sub-categorised into well water, handpump water, and borewell water. The mean uranium concentration was observed at 2.5 ± 1.9 µgL −1 and 16.5 ± 1.4 µgL −1 in the surface and ground water samples, respectively. In sub-categories of ground water, the highest uranium concentration was found in borewell water (23.3 ± 17.0 µgL −1 ), followed by handpump water (13.5 ± 9.1 µgL −1 ) and well water (6.0 ± 5.5 µgL −1 ). The uranium concentration was correlated significantly with the depth of the ground water table. It also correlated significantly with electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and nitrate concentration. 100% of surface water and 88.9% of ground water samples carried uranium concentration within the acceptable limit of WHO (30 µgL −1 ). The annual ingestion dose was found at 3.8 µSvy −1 (for males) and 2.8 µSvy −1 (for females) in surface water and 25.4 µSvy −1 (for males) and 18.5 µSvy −1 (for females) in ground water. In the sub-categories of the ground water sample, the annual ingestion dose followed the trend in males 35.8 µSvy −1 (borewell water) > 20.7 µSvy −1 (hand pump water) > 9.2 µSvy −1 (well water) and in females 26.1 µSvy −1 (borewell water) > 15.1 µSvy −1 (hand pump water) > 6.7 µSvy −1 (well water).