Abstract:
Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in the
Lenabatuwa division, Kamburupitiya, Matara, Sri Lanka. This study was
aimed to explore some heavy metal concentrations (Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni,
and As) in drinking water and to assess the possible health risk for the
people in the study area via drinking water usage. Heavy metal
concentrations of the selected groundwater sources used by the locality
for the drinking purpose were chemically analyzed using ICP-OES
(Thermo scientific, ICAP Spectrometer 7000, UK). The values obtained
were compared with the indices given by the world health organization
(WHO) and Sri Lanka Standards (SLS) Institute. Average chronic daily
intake (ADI), health risk quotient (HQ), and carcinogenic risk (CR) were
calculated using the heavy metal concentrations. The majority of heavy
metals investigated in this study area showed below the WHO and SLS
standard limits. However, only a few samples were beyond the standard
values of Pb and As. Moreover, drinking water quality is not according
to the limits of pH. Based on the daily ingestion of water, it was revealed
that the HQ is less than 1 in all samples showing no health hazard.
However, according to the CR, the Pb concentrations in well water
posed the lowest risk of 10−6
, and the As concentration was less to the
highest risk having 10-4 in water samples in this area. Therefore, it is
recommended to conduct routine monitoring in potable water sources,
and appropriate measures should be taken to provide the provision of
safe water to the residents in this area.
