TERM PAPER- CEL 899

HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF AMMONIA IN YAMUNA WATER AND NITRATES IN GROUND WATER ALONG ITS BANKS

Group Members

Vineet Kumar : 2014 CEV 2851 Subhash Chandra Verma : 2014 CEV 2781 Mohammed Mohsen Al Yazidi : 2014 CEV 2816 Under the guidance of Dr. Arun Kumar, IIT, Delhi

Background• Objective of the study is to present a step-wise

development of a quantitative risk assessment framework for ammonia and nitrates for the population residing in Wazirabad Village of Delhi situated on the banks of river Yamuna, which perpetually has high concentrations of ammonia in its water, during accidental exposure of stream water during recreational activities and direct ingestion of groundwater.

• The study focuses on health risks due to exposure of identified population through different pathways, namely, direct ingestion of surface and groundwater containing very high ammonia and/ or nitrate concentration.

Method used

• Hazard Identification• Exposure Assessment• Dose-Response Assessment• Risk Characterization• Risk Management i/c Risk Communication

Findings

• Presence of heavy concentration of ammonia in Yamuna water is a serious problem for people living along the banks of river Yamuna. This study presented a step-wise development of a quantitative risk assessment framework for ammonia and nitrates for the population residing in Wazirabad Village of Delhi situated on the banks of river Yamuna, which perpetually has high concentrations of ammonia in its water, during accidental exposure of stream water during recreational activities and direct ingestion of water. The study focuses on health risks due to exposure of identified population through different pathways, namely, direct ingestion of surface and groundwater containing very high ammonia and nitrate concentration.

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Findings• Average hazard quotients of ammonia and nitrates for two

exposure scenario: (1) exposure through accidental ingestion of stream water and exposure through direct ingestion of drinking water from borewells were found to be comparable and well within the margin of safety. The Hazard Index (HI) for ammonia and Nitrates was found to be 0.228 which is less than 1.0, indicating no potential risks of adverse effects due to exposure of these two compounds from water.

• In general, exposure of ammonia due to through accidental ingestion of stream water resulted in smaller hazard quotient compared to that through ingesting groundwater containing high concentration of nitrates.

Issues and directions for future research

Further research efforts are required to collect accurate site data from the borewells of study area and analyze the same for nitrate concentrations in them, and correlate this data with the concentrations of ammonia in the river water. Thus, to capture local-scale spatial and temporal variability in ammonia and nitrate concentrations, continuous monitoring of river water and ground water along the banks is required.

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