Ecological and human health risk assessment of pharmaceutical compounds in the Sirsa River of Indian Himalayas.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) region of Indian Himalayas is one of the most important pharmaceutical industrial clusters in Asia. This study investigated the distribution, and ecological and human health risks of four most frequently used pharmaceuticals [ciprofloxacin (CIP), norfloxacin (NOR), cetirizine (CTZ) and citalopram oxalate (ECP)] when co-occurring with metal ions in the Sirsa river water of the BBN region. The concentration range of the selected pharmaceuticals was between 'not detected' to 50 μgL with some exception for CIP (50-100 μgL) and CTZ (100-150 μgL) in locations directly receiving wastewater discharges.

Probabilistic modelling is superior to deterministic approaches in the human health risk assessment: an example from a tribal stretch in central India.

This case drew national attention in 2018. About 100 people died and more than 300 hospitalized in a span of few years in a village of 1200 people in a tribal stretch in central India. Medical teams visiting the area reported severe renal failure and blamed the local eating and drinking habits as causative factors.

A new indexing approach for evaluating heavy metal contamination in groundwater.

Three indexing methods, namely heavy metal pollution index (HPI), contamination index (C) and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), are commonly used for heavy metal evaluation in groundwater. These methods have several limitations. In HPI, 14 out of 15 groundwater samples collected in the study area of Nalagarh valley, Himachal Pradesh, India qualify for drinking purposes with their values varying between 10.

Evaluation of groundwater quality and human health risks from fluoride and nitrate in semi-arid region of northern India.

Groundwater quality in the alluvial plains of Punjab has special significance and needs great attention since it is the foremost source of drinking, irrigation and industrial uses. The present research work emphasizes the integrated hydrogeochemical and chemometric statistical approaches to appraise the geochemical processes and source apportionment of the groundwater in the alluvial plains of Jalandhar district, Punjab, India. The human health risk assessment was also performed to quantify the potential non-carcinogenic impacts of nitrate and fluoride on human health through ingestion of groundwater.