Assessing Groundwater Quality and Human Health Risks in Kendujhar District, Odisha, India

The objective of this study is to analyse the physicochemical characteristics of water samples collected from Kendujhar district of Odisha, India and to communicate the local community for their health consciousness.In this work, 61 ground water samples were collected from different locations of the study area.The observed ranges of total alkalinity, total hardness, electrical conductivity (EC) and pH were 222.9-480.98mg/L, 90.00-710.00mg/L, 42.0-3110.00S/cm and 5.4-7.7,respectively.In the same manner, other water quality parameters like Cl -, NO3 -, SO4 2-and PO4 3-concentration vary in the range of 17. 75-266.25,0.20-13.6,20.50-89.42,1.13-1.39mg/L, respectively.The pH of the groundwater, influenced by sand stones and unconsolidated material, is governed by bicarbonate.Fluoride concentration ranged from 0.04 to 1.77 mg/L, with 50.8% of samples showing deficiency (below 0.5 mg/L) and 21.03% exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).Human health risk assessment, per United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) recommendations, revealed non-carcinogenic health risks associated with fluoride at 22.9% for children and 3.27% for adults.Positive Pearson correlations were observed between fluoride and pH (r = 0.18) and between calcium and chloride (r = 0.523), suggesting a strong association, indicating the presence of calcium ion as calcium chloride in the study area.