Groundwater contamination with heavy metals in Chennai city, India – A threat to the human population

Abstract

Abstract The goal of this research was to learn more about heavy metal pollution in groundwater in North Chennai during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The total no. of 108 groundwater samples were utilized for this study retrieved from both dug and bore wells. The analytical results indicate that all the determined trace metals show wide spatial and temporal variations. Spatial variation is mainly due to the different sources of contamination, and temporal variation is mainly due to the influence of rainfall and the associated changes in the hydrogeochemical conditions. The abundance order of trace elements based on average ionic concentration in pre-monsoon is Iron (Fe)> Manganese (Mn)> Chromium (Cr)> Copper (Cu)> Lead (Pb)> Nickel (Ni)> Zinc (Zn) and during post-monsoon Fe>Mn>Pb>Zn>Cr>Cu>Ni. Nemerow’s pollution index (NPI) gives an idea about the range of pollution for individual water quality parameters concerning a standard value. Our result showed that North Chennai city is polluted by Lead in both seasons.