Health risk assessment from ingestion of uranium from groundwater around an industrial hub

To analyze groundwater contamination with uranium, groundwater samples were collected from the major industrial area of Jalandhar, Punjab, India (as the industrial effluent is found to contain a large number of heavy metals) and analyzed using ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer) for uranium-238. Uranium-238 concentrations in groundwater ranged from 4.96 µg/L and 38.52 µg/L, with an average of 17.0 µg/L. All the values of uranium concentration and uranium activity concentration in the samples were found within the permissible range by the World Health Organization (WHO). The hazard quotient for all the samples is found to be below one, indicating very low or no risk to the population.